New Delhi seeks to settle Iran debt via Turkish bank: Report
A new report says India seeks to settle billions of dollars in oil debts to Iran through a Turkish bank.
New Delhi has approached Turkey's Halkbank to facilitate the payment of $6.5 billion to Iran for its past crude oil imports, according to the Fars news agency quoting Indian ambassador to Tehran Saurabh Kumar as saying on Saturday.
The report said the money will be paid in euros.
Media reports said in March that the two countries overcame differences on settling the debts.
The issues reportedly involved the foreign exchange rate for the sum that India owes Iran.
Iran sold oil to Indian refiners in US dollars. Around 45% of the oil bill was footed in rupees while the rest 55% was to be cleared whenever banking channels opened after the removal of anti-Iran sanctions in January.
India is currently Iran's second largest oil importer after China and the higher imports signal Tehran's success in its bid to regain market share after the lifting of sanctions.
India’s crude oil imports from Iran jumped in March by about 135 percent from February to top 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), reaching the highest level in at least five years.
Energy-hungry India has also long sought to have a stake in Iran’s energy projects.
Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited Iran earlier in April for important talks, including on purchase of more oil, development of a giant gas field and investment in the country’s petrochemical projects.
The two countries signed an agreement to boost energy ties. The development of the giant Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf, export of Iran’s crude and oil products to India, and enhanced cooperation in the fields of petrochemical industry were among the main provisions of the agreement.
The Farzad-B field in the offshore Farsi block is estimated to hold 12.8 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas reserves.
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