NEW DELHI, June 1 (Reuters) – Indian state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp has requested an extra one million barrels of oil from the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) for June, two industry sources said, amid a looming threat of stringent U.S. sanctions.
The move by BPCL indicates that refiners will try to frontload their purchases from Iran ahead of a November U.S. deadline for re-imposing sanctions on the country’s petroleum sector.
Uncertainties cloud Iran’s oil exports after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear agreement this month and ordered the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Some sanctions take effect after a 90-day “wind-down” period ending on Aug. 6, and the rest, notably on the petroleum sector, after a 180-day “wind-down period” ending on Nov. 4.
“At this point of time Iranian crude is attractive … it is faring better than spot cargoes and other crudes,” said one of the sources.