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India Could Face Problems on Iran Oil Payments
India may face problems in making payments to Iran for crude supplies because of recent moves by the U.S. and the European Union to curb Tehran's nuclear program, a senior Indian official said Friday.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has threatened to block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz if global powers impose sanctions on the country's oil industry over its nuclear activities.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law late last month, empowering U.S. authorities to impose penalties on foreign banks dealing with the Central Bank of Iran to settle oil import payments. The European Union has also agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian crude oil to the EU.
The Indian Express newspaper Friday reported that India held an emergency meeting Thursday to consider ways to ensure uninterrupted crude oil supplies from Iran after indications from Turkey's state-owned Halkbank that it would have to stop settling payments on behalf of Indian companies.
The official at India's oil ministry, however, said India hasn't so far got any indications from Turkey on stopping payments.
Indian refiners started settling crude oil payments with Iran through Turkey's state-owned Halkbank after an earlier settlement mechanism, which the U.S. said was opaque and could be used by Tehran to finance its alleged nuclear weapons program, was disbanded by the South Asian nation's central bank in December 2010.
Serdar Fadillioglu, director of the Financial Institutions Team at Halkbank, said he couldn't comment on the Iran transactions.
Executives at Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery didn't respond to phone calls.
The oil ministry official said that India is in talks with other countries like Saudi Arabia for sourcing crude in case of a fall in supplies from Iran.
India Could Face Problems on Iran Crude Oil Payments - WSJ.com
India may face problems in making payments to Iran for crude supplies because of recent moves by the U.S. and the European Union to curb Tehran's nuclear program, a senior Indian official said Friday.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has threatened to block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz if global powers impose sanctions on the country's oil industry over its nuclear activities.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law late last month, empowering U.S. authorities to impose penalties on foreign banks dealing with the Central Bank of Iran to settle oil import payments. The European Union has also agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian crude oil to the EU.
The Indian Express newspaper Friday reported that India held an emergency meeting Thursday to consider ways to ensure uninterrupted crude oil supplies from Iran after indications from Turkey's state-owned Halkbank that it would have to stop settling payments on behalf of Indian companies.
The official at India's oil ministry, however, said India hasn't so far got any indications from Turkey on stopping payments.
Indian refiners started settling crude oil payments with Iran through Turkey's state-owned Halkbank after an earlier settlement mechanism, which the U.S. said was opaque and could be used by Tehran to finance its alleged nuclear weapons program, was disbanded by the South Asian nation's central bank in December 2010.
Serdar Fadillioglu, director of the Financial Institutions Team at Halkbank, said he couldn't comment on the Iran transactions.
Executives at Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery didn't respond to phone calls.
The oil ministry official said that India is in talks with other countries like Saudi Arabia for sourcing crude in case of a fall in supplies from Iran.
India Could Face Problems on Iran Crude Oil Payments - WSJ.com
