India Tuesday said it was adequately prepared to deal with the impact of the US decision to end waivers that allowed it to buy Iranian oil without facing sanctions.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saidthe government will continue to work with partner nations, including the US, tofind all possible ways to protect India’s energy and economic securityinterests.
“The government has noted the announcement by the USgovernment to discontinue the Significant Reduction Exemption to all purchasersof crude oil from Iran,” he said.
“We are adequately prepared to deal with the impact ofthis decision,” Kumar added.
US President Donald Trump has decided not to continue withthe exemptions to oil customers of Iran.
In November, the US had granted a six-month waiver to India,China, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea to continueimporting oil from Iran. The temporary waiver ends on May 2.
India, which is the second biggest purchaser of Iranian oilafter China, had agreed to restrict its monthly purchase to 1.25 million tonneor 15 million tonne in a year (300,000 barrels per day), down from 22.6 milliontonne (452,000 barrels per day) bought in the 2017-18 financial year.
The world’s third biggest oil consumer, India meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Iran is its third largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and meets about 10 per cent of its total needs.