First tranche of Iran oil debts paid, says Pranab

Indian firms have paid the first installment of their Iran oil debts, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday, as money owed on shipments of 400,000 barrels per day had risen to nearly $5 billion.

Indian firms have paid the first installment of their Iran oil debts, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday, as money owed on shipments of 400,000 barrels per day had risen to nearly $5 billion.

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India and Iran have resolved their problem over payments, he said, which was triggered at end-December when the Reserve Bank of India scrapped a long-standing regional clearing house mechanism under US pressure. India is Iran’s second-biggest customer after China and Iran provides 12 % of the Asian country’s oil demand.

Washington wants to isolate Tehran over its nuclear programme, which it believes Iran is using to develop weapons and although there is no international ban against buying Iranian crude.