India to buy oil from wherever it gets 'best deal'Refusing to "lay down a quota" for
importing oil from any country, including Iran which is facing strict
financial sanctions imposed by the UN and the US, India on Wednesday
made it clear that it will buy oil from wherever it "gets the best
deal".
It also said two nationalised companies were ready to reinsure the oil supplies from Iran to India.
Asserting that decline in its import of crude oil from Iran was due to "logistics reason", top government officials said, "The fact that our oil import has come down is due to logistics. First, you did not have banks that would finance your oil purchases.
"Secondly, the decision, taken three years ago, which will have some impact (on the oil imports from Iran), was because India must diversify" when it came to oil suppliers, they said.
Asked if there was a particular amount of oil supply India was looking at from sanctions-hit Iran, they said there was no "magic figure".
"It makes no sense to have a quota. (It is) where we get the best deal...We have to get the best deal for India rather than lay down quotas and lay figures and restrict our freedom," they said.
Asked if it meant India will continue getting oil supplies from Iran or increase them, they asserted, "(It is) wherever we get the best deals" but maintained that one cannot "push" for more given the present situation.
Iran, which is supplying about 12 percent of India's total oil imports, is the second largest supplier to the country. However, in view of the strict financial sanctions, the two countries are working on the payment mechanism.
Western sanctions were aimed at cutting Iran's funding of its contentious nuclear programme. Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, India is setting up an Indian Energy Insurance Pool, a fund to provide insurance to domestic refineries that have been refused cover by European re-insurers for processing Iranian crude, with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore.
In a meeting, chaired by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, the Petroleum Ministry and the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) will jointly contribute Rs 1,000 crore and the public sector general insurance companies will together provide a matching capacity of Rs 1,000 crore.
According to sources, the government will also provide sovereign guarantee for losses up to Rs 10,000 crore.
It also said two nationalised companies were ready to reinsure the oil supplies from Iran to India.
Asserting that decline in its import of crude oil from Iran was due to "logistics reason", top government officials said, "The fact that our oil import has come down is due to logistics. First, you did not have banks that would finance your oil purchases.
"Secondly, the decision, taken three years ago, which will have some impact (on the oil imports from Iran), was because India must diversify" when it came to oil suppliers, they said.
Asked if there was a particular amount of oil supply India was looking at from sanctions-hit Iran, they said there was no "magic figure".
"It makes no sense to have a quota. (It is) where we get the best deal...We have to get the best deal for India rather than lay down quotas and lay figures and restrict our freedom," they said.
Asked if it meant India will continue getting oil supplies from Iran or increase them, they asserted, "(It is) wherever we get the best deals" but maintained that one cannot "push" for more given the present situation.
Iran, which is supplying about 12 percent of India's total oil imports, is the second largest supplier to the country. However, in view of the strict financial sanctions, the two countries are working on the payment mechanism.
Western sanctions were aimed at cutting Iran's funding of its contentious nuclear programme. Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, India is setting up an Indian Energy Insurance Pool, a fund to provide insurance to domestic refineries that have been refused cover by European re-insurers for processing Iranian crude, with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore.
In a meeting, chaired by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, the Petroleum Ministry and the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) will jointly contribute Rs 1,000 crore and the public sector general insurance companies will together provide a matching capacity of Rs 1,000 crore.
According to sources, the government will also provide sovereign guarantee for losses up to Rs 10,000 crore.