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Sanjiv Singh, head of state-run refiner Indian Oil Corporation, told CNN Business that “whatever supplies were coming from Iran, they were well distributed amongst other countries.”
Iran had been the third largest supplier of crude to India, which imports huge amounts of energy to fuel its growing economy. Iraq and Saudi Arabia were the only countries to export more to India.
A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas confirmed to CNN Business on Wednesday that the country has now ceased all imports of oil from Iran.
Singh said on Wednesday that Indian Oil “wanted as many suppliers as possible” and that cutting off Iranian oil was a “collective decision” made with input from the government.
“I’m sure it was in the interest of the country at the moment,” he added.
China, which is engaged in a trade war with America, purchased $585 million worth of crude from Iran in May, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, and Tehran expects to export even more to China in June.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is currently on a visit to India, said the sanctions were aimed at countering what he called Iran’s “terror regime.”
“I think there is a shared understanding of threat and a common purpose to ensure to keep energy at the right price and deter this threat,” he told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that Pompeo was “very receptive” to India’s concerns about global energy supplies.
“He understands that this is today the world’s fifth largest economy, which imports 85% of its energy … he gets what our interests are,” Jaishankar added.
Singh said India is likely to become more even reliant on other countries for its energy needs.
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