India finding it hard to replace Iranian oil: Envoy

India’s ambassador to the US says American sanctions on Iran are hurting his country which is finding it hard to replace Iranian oil imports.

“It has been a challenge to find alternative sources of oil at the same price and quality, and it has affected the bottom line in India,” Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla told Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Tuesday.

Indian refineries are built according to Iranian crude specifications as are many refineries in South Korea, Japan and China.

Indian sources have said the government was looking at ways to resume oil imports from Iran despite US sanctions which aim to dry up Iranian revenues.

Shringla said New Delhi hopes Washington will show flexibility on waivers which allowed eight countries to continue oil imports from Iran, before the Trump administration halted them.

India stopped oil imports from Iran after the six-month US waiver for its unilateral sanctions ended on May 2.

“It was an important priority for the US and we went along with it. But we also expect the United States to show similar sensibility when it comes to our priorities,” Shringla said.

Indian media outlets quoted a senior government official as saying in May that New Delhi was “keen to resume imports, though the quantum will be limited”.

The announcement came as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited New Delhi and reportedly asked India to continue sourcing part of its oil imports from Iran.   

Before the sanctions, India was Iran’s second biggest oil buyer after China, sourcing about 10% of its supplies from the Islamic Republic.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already come under opposition attacks over his failure to guarantee continued access to Iranian oil.

“The US ban on exporting crude oil from Iran to India, is it not an attack on India’s sovereignty?” Randeep Singh Surjewala‏, a Congress Party lawmaker and national spokesman, said in April.

SS