Iran replaced Saudi Arabia to become the second-largest crude oil supplier to India between April and June, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan told the Lok Sabha on Monday. In a written reply, the minister said Tehran offered better discounts, almost free shipping and an extended credit period on oil sales, reported Reuters.

Iran shipped around 5.67 million tonnes or 4,57,000 barrels of oil per day in these three months for Rs 19,978.46 crore. India is Iran’s top oil client after China. During the same period in 2017, India imported 2,79,000 barrels daily from Iran, according to Reuters. Pradhan, however, did not provide last year’s figures.

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State-run firms that buy oil from Iran include Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd , Indian Oil Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, reported PTI.

Iraq continued to be India’s biggest oil supplier. New Delhi imported around 7.27 million tonnes of oil from Iraq from April to June, while Saudi Arabia slipped to the third position shipping 5.22 million tonnes of oil to India.

This comes while India is facing pressure from the United States, which pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran, to cut imports from Iran. The US in June insisted that its allies, including India, end all imports of crude oil from Iran by November 4 when sanctions against Iran come into effect again. A US State Department official said countries would be subject to sanctions if oil imports from Iran are not cut to zero.

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India, however, has said it will do whatever is mandated to be done in its national interest regarding the import of oil from Iran.

Pradhan did not say if the government has asked oil companies to reduce imports from Iran. “Indian refineries import crude oil from diverse sources including Iran, depending on technical and commercial considerations,” he said. However, India’s overall oil import from Iran in June declined by about 16% from May.