Iran’s crude oil supplies to India rose by 14% in June despite a dispute over $5 billion of unpaid bills, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
Iran and India have been at loggerheads since December after a clearing system for the Islamic Republic’s oil sales to the Asian nation was discontinued due to international banking sanctions.
Yet India’s crude purchases from Iran–its second-largest oil supplier–have remained broadly unchanged compared with the past two years and even rose in the past month compared with May.
Iran’s oil deliveries to the Asian nation rose to 400,000 barrels a day in June from 350,000 barrels a day in May, said the person familiar with the trades, who isn’t an Iranian official.
Iran typically supplied about 400,000 barrels a day in 2009-2010, prior to the dispute. India has since paid into a joint account which Iran cannot draw from.
But it is unclear if such level of sales will remain unchanged after Iranian officials warned August deliveries could be interrupted if outstanding bills aren’t paid, while Indian refiners said they were looking for backup supplies from other countries.
