India’s MRPL Says to Get Waiver from US Sanctions on Iran Soon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) expects India to get a waiver from US sanctions on Iranian oil exports this month, a company official said Tuesday.
"The waiver should happen pretty fast, hopefully this month," M. Venkatesh, managing director at MRPL told reporters on the sidelines of the IHS CERA conference, Business Standard reported.
India is hopeful of waivers as it has made progress on qualifying for exceptions called SRE waivers, or significant reduction exemptions, he said.
"It is not easy to replace Iranian barrels," Venkatesh added.
MRPL would look at buying Iraqi oil to replace Iranian oil, he said, adding that the company has already made some payments in rupees to Iran for oil.
MRPL, which has an annual deal to buy 4.5 million tonnes of Iranian oil, has so far taken about 60-70 percent of its contracted volumes, Venkatesh said. It also has an option to buy an additional 1 million tons.
"It is important for India to get some barrels of crude from Iran otherwise if Saudi and major producers are not able to jack up their production, it will impact prices," he said.
Indian refiners imported around 10 million barrels of Iranian oil in October, and its November shipments are expected to be lower.