State-owned Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) will double crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia next fiscal and cut purchases from Iran by over 14%.
HPCL in FY13 has proposed to buy 3.5 million tonne of crude oil from Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia against 1.75 million tonne of oil bought in current year, the company sources said.
It will cut down purchase from Iran to 3 million tonne in the year beginning April from 3.5 million tonne in the current year.
Indian refiners fear problems in paying for crude oil they buy from Iran after the US and European Union imposed fresh sanctions to deter the Islamic regime for its nuclear programme. The refiners are cutting imports from Iran by 10% next fiscal.
Sources said HPCL will keep purchases from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Iraq and Malaysia unchanged in next fiscal.
It will buy 2.25 million tonne from Abu Dhabi National Oil Corp, 2.25 million tonne from State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) of Iraq, 1 million tonne from Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and 1.25 million tonne from Petronas of Malaysia.
HPCL's total crude oil requirement for FY13 has been estimated at 18 million tonne. Out of this, 14.25 million tonne of crude is proposed to be imported through a combination of term and spot contracts, while the balance 3.75 million tonne will be sourced from indigenous fields.
Of the imported crude, 11.25 million tonne will be procured from National Oil Companies (NOCs) through term contracts, while the balance 3 million tonne of crude will be sourced from the Spot Market.
Mangalore Refinery (MRPL) is the India biggest buyer of Iranian oil at 7.1 million tonne in current fiscal while Essar Oil buys 5 million tonne. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has a term contract to buy 1.5 million tonne while Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) could not commence its 1 million tonne term imports from Iran this fiscal because it could not open an account with Turkey's Halkbank for payment to NIOC.