TEHRAN - Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian crude, imported 4.9 percent more Iranian oil during January-May 2017 compared to a year ago, according to the private refiner’s crude and condensate imports data released by Reuters.

According to the data, the company purchased 156,800 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude on average in the mentioned five months compared to the last year’s 149,500 bpd for the same time span.
Essar Oil’s oil imports from Iran in May also rose 19.1 percent compared with April to about 186,600 barrels per day (bpd), according to tanker arrival data obtained from trade sources and ship-tracking services on the Thomson Reuters terminal.
The company shipped in 156,600 bpd in April.
But the figure for May fell 0.4 percent compared with a year earlier in which Essar imported 187,300 bpd of Iranian oil.  
Essar Oil is engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining of crude oil, and marketing of petroleum products. It is a part of the Essar Group based in Mumbai.
Iran used to be India's second-biggest supplier before sanctions.

EF/MA