Oil imports from Iran up 38% during Jan-Sept

India's oil imports from Iran rose 38 per cent in the first nine months of the year as shipments surged with an easing of Western sanctions over Tehran's suspected nuclear activities, tanker arrival data obtained from trade sources shows.

Diplomats from the United States, the European Union and Iran meet this week in Vienna to try to resolve the decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear programme before a Nov. 24 deadline.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday he thinks a final deal can be reached before the deadline, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a day later he thinks an agreement is not "out of reach".

A final agreement would likely mean another surge in Iranian exports - up nearly a quarter to Asian buyers so far this year - just after ample supply and slower global demand growth have pushed oil prices to their lowest since 2010.

India, Iran's top oil client after China, imported about 267,800 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Tehran, the tanker data showed, partly due to a big surge in the first quarter as the initial deal easing Western sanctions went into effect.

Growth in Iranian oil imports this year was also due to a bounce off the low base of last year, when shipments were hit hard due to insurance problems triggered by the sanctions, particularly over the April-August period.

India's monthly Iranian oil imports fell in September for the first time since June, with the intake dropping to 241,400 bpd, down 11.7 per cent from the previous month and 18.5 per cent from a year ago, the data showed.

Over the April-September period, the first half of India's fiscal year, the nation took about 223,400 bpd from Tehran, up 35 per cent over the same six months last year.

State-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd was the biggest buyer of Iranian oil in September followed by Essar Oil Ltd, the data showed. MRPL and Essar are India's only two regular monthly importers of Iranian crude.

State run Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest refiner, imported a million barrels of Iranian oil during the month, the data also showed.

India's overall imports for the month totalled 3.76 million bpd, a decline of about 2 per cent from a year ago as private refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd did not make any purchase due to a shutdown of its refinery for maintenance.

HPCL-Mittal Energy has resumed purchases this month after restarting operations at its 180,000 bpd Bathinda refinery.

India's total crude imports for the January-September period fell 2.8 per cent.

Iran's share of total Indian oil imports was about 7 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared with 4.9 per cent last year, the data showed.

January-September this year India's import of oil from Latin America rose by 1.3 per cent, while that from Africa increased by about 14.7 per cent, the data also showed.

Purchases from the Middle East declined by 9.6 per cent over the period.

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