US officials hinted that they could not ensure that the price sold to Indian crude oil was cheap enough

India stopped importing crude oil from Iran this month after the United States ended sanctions exemptions, followed by pressure from higher import prices.

A senior U.S. official said on the May 6 that the United States could not guarantee that crude oil would be exported to India at a sufficiently favorable price to fill the gap left by the cessation of imports of cheap Iranian oil, the Indian Press Trust reported on 6th. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reportedly referred to the issue in an interview during a trade forum in India 6th. “Oil is privately owned, so the U.S. government can’t force people to lower oil prices,” he said.

” India is reported to be the world’s third-largest oil consumer, importing to meet more than 80% per cent of its oil needs. Oil imports from Iran have made Indian refiners lucrative, as Iran offers 60 days to buy credit, a preferential condition that other oil suppliers (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeria, and the United States) cannot offer. In addition, Iran will arrange for oil to be shipped to India, including transportation insurance. If oil is to be purchased from other oil suppliers, including the United States, Indian buyers have to arrange their own transportation and pay for insurance.

As India has stopped importing crude oil from Iran, it is arranging to import crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and other countries to make up for the shortfall in Iran’s oil market. India is the second largest buyer of Iranian crude oil.

As of March 31, India had imported about 24 million tons of crude oil from Iran, while Iran had supplied India with more than 1/10 of its oil demand. Last year, US president Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 and restarted a series of sanctions against the country, but the United States also granted some countries a six-month exemption from sanctions, provided they needed to reduce their purchases of Iranian oil. The duration of this sanctions exemption is as at May 2, 2019.