Mumbai (Platts)--14Dec2012/523 am EST/1023 GMT

India will take up for review its dependence on Iranian crude oil in the new year, India's foreign minister Salman Khurshid said Thursday, Press Trust of India reported.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Energy Security Conference in New Delhi Thursday, Khurshid said that although there will be a review, India is adhering to the US waiver agreement.

"I think we are well within the structure of the US waiver. The bottom line of the conditions of the waiver has been satisfied, which is you should not increase dependency" on Iranian crude.

The US on Friday extended 180-day waivers from Iran sanctions to nine countries, including India, it says have made significant cuts in their purchases of Iranian crude.

India's crude imports from Iran in the 2011-12 financial year fell to 17.5 million mt from 18.5 million mt the previous year, pushing its status down from India's second-largest crude supplier to fourth, behind Iraq and Kuwait. India's financial year runs from April to March.

Indian refiners are scheduled to import only 10.5 million mt of Iranian crude in the current fiscal year, 40% less than last year, and below the official term contract estimates of 15.5 million mt for the year given by former junior minister R.P.N. Singh in May.

Khurshid said India had taken a "principled position" on the issue of crude imports from Iran and was compliant with UN sanctions on Iran.

"When you take a principled position, sometimes it hurts you. But because of this principled position, India is different from many other countries and has been appreciated by the US and Iran," the report quoted him as saying.

India is currently receiving average volumes of around 250,000-255,000 b/d of Iranian crude. In the early part of the year, volumes from Iran had been around 300,000 b/d.

--M.C. Vaijayanthi, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Jonathan Fox, jonathan_fox@platts.com

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