No gap in oil exports to India: Iranian Oil Co

The National Iranian Oil Company's managing director said that Iran's oil exports to long-time trading partner India had continued despite a dispute over the method of payment.

"There has been no disruption in the sale and exports of oil to India in recent days," he said on Sunday.

India buys about 400,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude, Reuters reported.

Qalebani said the two countries were determined to carry on cooperating despite problems agreeing a new payment method, after India said last week it would no longer use a regional clearinghouse system which had been criticized for being opaque.

"The economic cooperation between Iran and India in this (oil trade) connection is still continuing," Qalebani said.

On Friday, Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Khaledi said the dispute with India had been settled by changing the currency for trading.

"By changing the currency for oil transactions between Iran and India the problem was solved," he said.

A senior Indian official present at a Friday meeting with Iranian officials said the idea of using euros instead of dollars was discussed but the two sides would need to make sure the European Central Bank would be happy with the transparency.