Oil import won't have instant impact: India
Payment to Iran may become difficult if EU also pulls out.
New Delhi: The US decision to reinstate financial sanctions on Iran will not impact India’s oil imports from the Islamic Republic as long as European countries don’t follow suit, officials said on Wednesday.
India pays its third largest oil supplier in Euros using European banking channels and unless these are blocked, imports will continue, they said.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the US will withdraw from the 2015 accord to curb Iran’s nuclear program and reinstate financial sanctions on the gulf nation.
Soon after the announcement, oil prices rebounded to trade at the highest level since 2014 with Brent crude oil climbing 2.5 per cent to $76.75.
“Immediately there will be no impact but we have to wait and watch how other nations particularly the European block, react,” said A.K. Sharma, director (finance) of Indian Oil, the country’s largest oil firm.
If the EU were to continue status quo and not re-impose sanctions, Iranian supplies to India will continue unhindered, he said. But paying Iran for the oil India buys would become difficult in case European countries join the US and impose financial sanctions and block banking channels, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who personally lobbied Trump to remain in the deal, said: “France, Germany, and the UK regret the US decision to leave the JCPOA.”