India MRPL raises Saudi import deal to 49,000 bpd-sources

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The Indian refiner, which had almost doubled its Saudi deal from January to 42,000 barrels per day (bpd) will now get an average 49,000 bpd this year, said the sources.

MRPL, Iran's biggest Indian oil client, plans to cut its imports from Iran to 80,000-100,000 bpd in 2012/13 (March-April) from 142,000 bpd the previous year, sources had earlier told Reuters.

India, China and Japan buy almost half of Iran's estimated 2.6 million bpd of oil exports, but a raft of U.S. and European sanctions aimed at choking off funding for Iran's nuclear programme are squeezing its oil supply lines.

Indian refiners are also not sure if supplies from Iran will continue uninterrupted from July should the EU go ahead with sanctions, hitting insurance cover for vessels carrying Iranian crude. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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GRAPHIC: Ship insurers link.reuters.com/geq57s

FACTBOX-Sanctions imposed on Iran ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Indian government is debating whether to give sovereign guarantees to its own shipping firms for importing Iranian crude from July or ask firms to lift crude oil from Tehran on a delivered basis, which would mean Iran handles insurance.

"Right now, there is no clarity as to how we will get shipments from July 1," U.K. Basu, managing director of MRPL, said last week. "It is a national issue and I expect some solution should be found out quickly."

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is determined to bring down high oil prices and is pumping 10 million bpd, the highest level since November, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said last week.

MRPL, which runs a 300,000 bpd plant in southern India, has also signed its first-ever import deal with Iraq to buy 11,000 bpd oil this fiscal year besides raising imports from ADNOC to 40,000 bpd from 30,000 bpd last year, said one of the sources.

MRPL, a unit of state-run explorer ONGC, aims to continue buying about 22,000 bpd Kuwait oil, said one of the sources. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Jo Winterbottom)

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