The sharp increase propelled Iran into fourth place among India's suppliers in 2016, up from seventh position in 2015. It used to be India's second-biggest supplier before sanctions.For the year, the world's third biggest oil consumer bought about 473,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran to feed expanding refining capacity, up from 208,300 bpd in 2015, the data showed.In December, imports from Iran trebled from a year earlier to about 546,600 bpd.

 

In 2015 refiners slowed purchases due to sanctions which choked payment routes, insurance and halved Iran's exports.Indian refiners Reliance Industries, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL) last year resumed imports from Tehran, attracted by the discount offered by Iran."In most of 2016 there was a fight among Gulf producers to increase their market share and lifting of sanctions against Iran has intensified that fight," said Ehsan ul Haq, senior analyst at London-based consultancy KBC Energy Economics.

 

In April-December, the first nine months of this fiscal year, Iranian supplies to India averaged a record 530,300 bpd, up from about 400,000 bpd before sanctions tightened against Tehran.India's 2016 Iranian oil imports were the highest in at least six years, according to the Reuters data.Government data going back over a longer period shows the average was the highest since the 2001-02 fiscal year.

 

Overall, India imported 4.3 million bpd oil in 2016, up 7.4 percent from the previous year.