| TV9 - "IRAN WARNS" TO STOP OIL SUPPLY FROM AUG, IF DUES NOT CLEARED...............! Coinciding with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's India visit, Iran today issued a new warning that it will halt crude oil supplies to India from August unless a mechanism is found to clear past dues. India owes over USD 5 billion to its second largest crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, and is hoping an alternative to pay for 12% of its import will be found soon. "If the Iranian side feels it cannot receive the money for its exported oil punctually and under desirable conditions, it will reconsider" its crude exports to India, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by AFP as saying at his weekly press conference in Tehran. Officials at the Oil Ministry said past payments will be cleared the day Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India agree to conduit and currency for routing the payments. "The matter is pending with the Department of Economic Affairs and we hope they will be able to find a solution at the earliest," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas RPN Singh told PTI in New Delhi. Iran has been supplying some 400000 barrels a day of crude to India on credit since late December last year when RBI scrapped a long-standing mechanism to pay for import from the Persian Gulf nation using a clearing house system run by regional central banks. On June 27, National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) had written to refiners like Mangalore Refinery and ... |
