India is set to receive its first oil tanker from Iran in seven years after the U.S. temporarily removed sanctions on Iranian oil and refined products to ease supply shortages, a Reuters report said, quoting ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler.
The report stated that the state-run Indian Oil Corp purchased the cargo, currently on the Curaçao-flagged very large crude carrier Jaya, which is heading to India’s east coast and is set to arrive later this week.
The Jaya initially went to Southeast Asian waters for discharge in China before heading to India, LSEG ship tracking shows. LSEG data shows another carrier, Jordan, is signaling India as its discharge location.
India’s oil supply from Iran
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has not received a cargo from Tehran since May 2019, following US pressure not to buy Iranian crude, but supply disruptions from the US-Israel war have hit the South Asian nation hard.
India’s oil ministry last week said that refiners have purchased Iranian oil because of the Middle East conflict that has disrupted supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about 20% of global crude supply.
The ministry also said last week that refiners are not facing any problems with payments for Iranian oil purchases.
Kpler data also shows that Iranian crude oil on water is near record-high levels above 180 million barrels in April.
RBI’s assessment of crude oil prices
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India said it has kept the crude oil price assumptions to average $85 per barrel and the rupee is expected to trade at 94 per dollar in FY27. The central bank has made the projections in the bi-annual Monetary Policy report released on Wednesday.
As per the RBI report, the crude oil price assumption has been raised to $85 per barrel for FY27, from $70 per barrel in H2FY26. It also increased exchange rate projections to 94 against the US dollar during FY27, up from 88 during H2FY26.
“The baseline assumption for crude oil price has been taken at $85 per barrel for FY27 and $75 per barrel for FY28, in line with average Brent future prices,” RBI said in a report.