*NEW DELHI: India’s oil ministry has asked refiners to prepare for a‘drastic reduction or zero’ imports of Iranian oil from November, twoindustry sources said, the first sign that New Delhi is responding to apush by the United States to cut trade ties with Iran.*
India has said it does not recognise unilateral restrictions imposed by theUnited States, and instead follows U.N. sanctions. But the industry sourcessaid India, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China, will be forced totake action to protect its exposure to the U.S. financial system.
India’s oil ministry held a meeting with refiners on Thursday, urging themto scout for alternatives to Iranian oil, the sources said.
“(India) has asked refiners to be prepared for any eventuality, since thesituation is still evolving. There could be drastic reduction or therecould be no import at all,” said one of the sources, who has knowledge ofthe matter.
Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters in Mumbai that thecountry would attend to its interests while deciding on oil imports.
“We know (that) to have a healthy energy mix, we can get oil from anywhere.The rest depends on geopolitics, and those decisions will be taken based onthe situations,” he said. “We will go by our interests. When we decideanything on Iran, we will inform you.”
During the previous round of sanctions, India was one of the few countriesthat continued to buy Iranian oil, although it had to reduce imports asshipping, insurance and banking channels were choked due to the Europeanand U.S. sanctions.
The source said this time the situation is different.
“You have India, China and Europe on one side, and U.S. on the other… Atthis moment we really don’t know what to do, but at the same time we haveto prepare ourselves to face any eventuality,” said the source.
While a State Department official has said that Washington wants Iranianoil buyers to halt imports from November, U.S. Ambassador to the UnitedNations Nikki Haley has told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lessendependence on Iranian oil.
Haley, currently in Delhi, spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeoearly on Wednesday, before meeting Modi.
The U.S. push to curb countries’ imports of Iranian oil comes afterPresident Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal between Iran and six worldpowers and ordered a reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.