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* Iranian imports increased by 56% in August
* Indian refiners were attracted by Iranian cuts
* Washington wants Iranian oil trade to stop from November
By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, Sept. 5 (Reuters) – India imported about 523,000 barrels a day (a barrel a day) of oil, down 32 percent from the previous month. stop Iranian energy imports from November.
Some of the shipments were loaded in July and arrived in August, showed the data obtained by Reuters from commercial sources.
Imports in August 2018 were still 56% higher than the same month last year, according to the data, with state refineries attracted by the rebates offered this year by Iran.
India's annual refinery import plans for 2018/2019 were finalized before President Donald Trump's May decision to withdraw from an international nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 and to reimpose sanctions.
A senior Indian government official said India, Iran's biggest oil customer after China, would not stop Iran's imports completely and finalize its strategy on crude purchases after meeting with US officials on Thursday.
In April-August, the first five months of fiscal year 2018-2019, India's oil imports from Iran grew by 43% to 646,200 b / d compared to the same period of the last year.
Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, imported about 4 million barrels in August, about 134,000 barrels a day, half of the volume imported in July.
State refiners have faced delays in obtaining permission to use Iranian tankers and insurers, federal policy requiring them to favor Indian shippers and insurers , according to industry experts. Western and Indian shippers are reducing their exposure to Iran before the sanctions take effect.
In August, Bharat Petroleum Corp. received about 131,000 barrels of Iranian oil, one-third less than in July, according to the data.
Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the largest refining complex in the world, and Hindustan Petroleum Corp NS> did not buy oil from Iran in August. Monthly imports of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals' and Nayara Energy, partly owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft, have changed little, at around 120,000 barrels a day and 138,000 barrels a day, respectively, according to the data.
In January-August 2018, imports of Indian oil from Iran rose 21 percent to 600,400 barrels a day from the same period last year, according to the data.
Report by Nidhi Verma
Edited by Edmund Blair
