Shardul.....the lion
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NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday sought up to four million tonnes of additional supplies of oil from Iraq in 2012-13, the second indication in a week of New Delhi's efforts to line up alternate sources in preparation for tapering supplies from Iran in the face of increasing Western pressure.
New Delhi asked Saudi Arabia, its biggest supplier, for an additional five million tonnes of crude a year. The request was made by oil minister S Jaipal Reddy during his meeting with Saudi deputy oil minister Abdul Aziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
On Monday, Reddy made a similar request to Iraq's deputy prime minister Rowsch Shaways. He brushed aside suggestions that such requests were being made with the aim of finding replacement for Iranian oil and said India was not looking to paring supplies from Teheran. Iraq is India's third largest oil supplier, accounting for 17 million tonnes of crude a year.
After his meeting with Saudi deputy oil minister last week, Reddy had categorically stated that India recognized only UN regulations and not those imposed by a bloc of countries. But Indian refiners are quietly drawing up plans to source oil from elsewhere as Western sanctions are making routing of payments for Iranian crude increasingly difficult.
But Reddy said the additional oil was being sought to meet increasing demand from an ever-expanding refining capacity in Asia's third-largest economy. India's refining capacity is expected to rise by about 61% to 311 million tonne a year or over 6 million bpd (barrels per day) by March 2017.
Iraq, which has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world, aims to boost its oil production capacity to 8-8.5 million bpd by 2017, that could vault it into the top echelon of world producers. Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy Hussain al-Shahristani in January said his country was producing about 3 million bpd and was targeting to boost output to 500,000 bpd for 2012.
After Saudi, India seeks more Iraqi oil to skirt Iran curbs - The Times of India
New Delhi asked Saudi Arabia, its biggest supplier, for an additional five million tonnes of crude a year. The request was made by oil minister S Jaipal Reddy during his meeting with Saudi deputy oil minister Abdul Aziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
On Monday, Reddy made a similar request to Iraq's deputy prime minister Rowsch Shaways. He brushed aside suggestions that such requests were being made with the aim of finding replacement for Iranian oil and said India was not looking to paring supplies from Teheran. Iraq is India's third largest oil supplier, accounting for 17 million tonnes of crude a year.
After his meeting with Saudi deputy oil minister last week, Reddy had categorically stated that India recognized only UN regulations and not those imposed by a bloc of countries. But Indian refiners are quietly drawing up plans to source oil from elsewhere as Western sanctions are making routing of payments for Iranian crude increasingly difficult.
But Reddy said the additional oil was being sought to meet increasing demand from an ever-expanding refining capacity in Asia's third-largest economy. India's refining capacity is expected to rise by about 61% to 311 million tonne a year or over 6 million bpd (barrels per day) by March 2017.
Iraq, which has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world, aims to boost its oil production capacity to 8-8.5 million bpd by 2017, that could vault it into the top echelon of world producers. Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy Hussain al-Shahristani in January said his country was producing about 3 million bpd and was targeting to boost output to 500,000 bpd for 2012.
After Saudi, India seeks more Iraqi oil to skirt Iran curbs - The Times of India
