India Essar's oil imports from Iran jump sharply

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* India oil imports from Islamic state doubled in Jan

* Essar is also 1st Indian refiner to buy Brazil's Polvo grade

By Nidhi Verma

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Essar Oil, a key buyer of Iranian oil, in January sharply raised imports from the Islamic state and also became the first Indian refiner to ship in the Brazilian heavy grade Polvo, tanker arrival data showed.

India's oil imports from Iran more than doubled in January from a month earlier after sanctions on Tehran were eased due to an interim deal on its nuclear programme.

Essar received 141,900 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran last month, up from 54,200 bpd in December, according to the data obtained by Reuters. Shipments last month were about 31 percent higher than a year ago.

Essar officials declined to comment.

During the first 10 months of the fiscal year ending March 31, Essar imported 91,500 bpd oil, a decline of about 6 percent from the same period the year before, the data showed.

Essar purchased Polvo from Brazil as it has been testing new heavy grades to improve refining margins.

In the December quarter, Essar met as much as 98 percent of its oil needs through heavy and ultra heavy grades, it said in a statement earlier this month.

Essar's total crude imports in January rose 81.5 percent from a low base in December, when it drew from inventory and cut purchases.

Following are details of Essar's crude and condensate imports in January, according to the data. Volumes are in 1,000 bpd

--------------------------------------------------------------- REGION/ JAN DEC %CHG JAN %CHG COUNTRY 2014 2013 MTH/MTH 2013 YR/YR --------------------------------------------------------------- Latam Brazil 32.8 0.0 -- 54.0 -39.3 Colombia 17.0 69.5 -75.5 0.0 -- Ecuador 34.6 0.0 -- 25.8 34.3 Mexico 67.9 0.0 -- 68.5 -1.0 Venezuela 60.9 63.5 -4.2 69.0 -11.7 TOTAL 213.1 133.1 60.2 217.3 -1.9 Middle East Oman 0.0 33.6 -100.0 0.0 -- Iran 141.9 54.2 162.0 108.4 30.9 Iraq 0.0 0.0 -- 66.9 -100.0 Qatar 14.4 0.0 -- 27.3 -47.2 TOTAL 156.3 87.8 78.1 202.6 -22.9 Africa Egypt 17.5 0.0 -- 0.0 -- Libya 13.8 0.0 -- 0.0 -- TOTAL 31.3 0.0 -- 0.0 -- Canada 0.0 0.0 -- 10.2 -100.0 --------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL ALL 400.8 220.8 81.5 430.1 -6.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: The total may not tally as numbers in tonnes have been rounded off after converting them into barrels per day using a conversion factor 7.2 barrels in a tonne divided by the number of days. (Editing by Joseph Radford)

FILED UNDER: Energy

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