India says too early to predict sanctions impact on Iran imports

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday it was too early to predict the impact of U.S. sanctions on his country's imports of Iranian oil.

Pradhan told Reuters during a visit to the United Arab Emirates that he was "a little bit concerned" about the impact of an oil price rise on consuming countries but that he did not think oil supply will be an issue.

"Let's see how things are moving. It's too early to predict in one way. We are watching very carefully."

"This kind of geopolitical (tension) affects both consuming and producing countries. We have to live with the reality of the present geopolitics," Pradhan said.

The oil minister added that there was a consensus between Saudi state oil giant Aramco, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ADNOC and Indian companies to firm a joint venture.

ADNOC wants to expand its downstream portfolio in markets where demand for oil is still growing, such as China and India, securing a new outlet for its crude.

A source said last month that the opportunities ADNOC could be looking at included a refinery and petrochemical project in India, for which Aramco signed an initial agreement on Wednesday with a consortium of Indian state refiners.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Alexander Smith)