India's Iran oil imports fall to five-month low in August

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil imports from Iran slumped 27 percent to a five-month low in August from a high base last year and ahead of a planned shutdown by two refineries, according to ship tracking data and a report compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.

India's Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd would shut units at their refineries for about a month from mid-September, leading to lower purchases from last month.

India shipped in about 198,800 barrels per day (bpd) of Iran oil in August, down 7.7 percent from July, the data showed. Despite the drop, India is still expected to raise imports as sanctions against the OPEC country ease.

In a pact clinched on July 14 between Iran and the United States, Germany, France, Russia, China and Britain, Iran would limit its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for a removal of economic sanctions.

Iran was India's second-biggest oil supplier in the fiscal year to March 31, 2007, but it slipped to seventh by last fiscal year as sanctions bit.

India, the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer and Tehran's top client after China, bought 21 percent less Iranian oil at 214,100 bpd in the first eight months of this year, the data showed.

April-August imports rose 21 percent to 266,000 bpd from a year ago.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Richard Pullin)