India Could Save $8.5Bn This Year Buying Iranian Oil In Rupees

[zugzwang]

As has been discussed elsewhere on HPC, an attack on Syria is a really proxy UK/US attack and preliminary assault on Iran.

Here's another piece of the jigsaw.

India could save $8.5 billion by buying extra Iranian oil - minister

• Reuters, Saturday August 31 2013

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India could save $8.5 billion in foreign exchange spending on crude oil imports in 2013/14 if it relied more on supplies from Iran, which is able to accept payment in rupees, India's Oil Minister M. Veerappa Moily said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spelling out a strategy to curb foreign exchange outflow against a backdrop of a weak currency, Moily said India was likely to import about 13 million tonnes of oil from Iran in 2013/14.

It has already imported 2 million tonnes so far in the fiscal year that began in April.

"An additional import of 11 million tonnes during 2013/14 would result in reduction in forex outflow by $8.47 billion (considering the international price of crude oil at $105 per barrel)," the letter, seen by Reuters, said.

The minister said total savings from a number of measures in the energy sector could be in the region of $20 billion.

Moily's proposal chimes with the government's eagerness to boost imports from Tehran to help prop up the rupee, which saw its biggest monthly fall in at least 18 years in August. U.S. and EU sanctions placed on Iran over its nuclear programme have reduced its oil exports more than half from pre-sanction levels of about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). In the first half of 2013, imports of Iranian oil from its four biggest buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - fell more than a fifth from a year ago to around 960,000 bpd. The U.S. and European Union sanctions have pushed Tehran into accepting payment in rupees for some of its oil, and higher volumes could support the Indian currency.

"Within the UN sanctions and fully complying with the sanctions, there may be more space for imports from Iran," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in August. In the first seven months of this year, India's imports from Iran have declined 46 percent from the same period last year to about 185,700 bpd, a trade data showed.

Edited September 1, 2013 by zugzwang

[oracle]

As has been discussed elsewhere on HPC, an attack on Syria is a really proxy UK/US attack and preliminary assault on Iran.

Here's another piece of the jigsaw.

one problem with this.

india has a real love-hate(mostly hate) relationship with some of the other radicalised islamic countries like pakistan.

seaming as pakistan will be teaming up with iran, this poses a bit of a problem for india, who IMHO would probably be better off teaming up with russia...especially if russia had a couple more beslans to solidify their stand against the mad mullahs, at the moment they are reasonably cosy, but that could change if they become fully convinced that their one and only gameplan for ALL kaffirs(...and the christofascists/islamofascists HATE the communists).. is convert or die.

....russia knows full well that they dare not commit too much down in the ME, because china and the fourth reich are waiting to pounce on them if they lose.

don't get me wrong...russia has no love for these nutters either, but they still need convincing that the mullahs are a direct threat to themselves if given too much support.

should that happen, I expect a few surprises out of russia, and they may yet be a big help.

...(but not yet)

Edited September 1, 2013 by oracle

[Kurt Barlow]

one problem with this.

india has a real love-hate(mostly hate) relationship with some of the other radicalised islamic countries like pakistan.

seaming as pakistan will be teaming up with iran, this poses a bit of a problem for india, who IMHO would probably be better off teaming up with russia...especially if russia had a couple more beslans to solidify their stand against the mad mullahs, at the moment they are reasonably cosy, but that could change if they become fully convinced that their one and only gameplan for ALL kaffirs(...and the christofascists/islamofascists HATE the communists).. is convert or die.

....russia knows full well that they dare not commit too much down in the ME, because china and the fourth reich are waiting to pounce on them if they lose.

don't get me wrong...russia has no love for these nutters either, but they still need convincing that the mullahs are a direct threat to themselves if given too much support.

should that happen, I expect a few surprises out of russia, and they may yet be a big help.

...(but not yet)

Not really - Pakistan is predominantly Sunni and they view Shias (Iran) as apostates - the lowest of the low below Christians, Jews, Hindus.

Iran generally has a good relationship with Russia.

[Executive Sadman]

Not really - Pakistan is predominantly Sunni and they view Shias (Iran) as apostates - the lowest of the low below Christians, Jews, Hindus.

Iran generally has a good relationship with Russia.

Yes, there seems to be this strange misfounded belief that there is some kind of innate brotherhood between all muslims. The same 'brotherhood' that led to christian countries bombing the hell out of other christian countries in the last century, i suppose. Wikileaks showed the Saudis even called (with the israelis!) for the nuking of Iran. No love lost between a lot of these islamic countries. Oh, sure their leaders all kiss each other now and then, but thats where it ends.

[ubuntu]

Not really - Pakistan is predominantly Sunni and they view Shias (Iran) as apostates - the lowest of the low below Christians, Jews, Hindus.

Iran generally has a good relationship with Russia.

don't think that's true although there has been an increase in sectarian terrorism in the last decade, Pakistan has been caught in the middle of the proxy between Shia Iran and Wahabi Sunni Saudi Arabia but relations with Iran were improving as evidenced by the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline construction agreement which America attempted to thwart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Pakistan_gas_pipeline

Although only 10-20% (no accurate figures) Shias are quite heavily represented within the ruling elites, both the recent ex Prime Minister and President are Shia and ironically the founder of Pakistan was a Shia.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

don't think that's true although there has been an increase in sectarian terrorism in the last decade, Pakistan has been caught in the middle of the proxy between Shia Iran and Wahabi Sunni Saudi Arabia but relations with Iran were improving as evidenced by the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline construction agreement which America attempted to thwart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Pakistan_gas_pipeline

Although only 10-20% (no accurate figures) Shias are quite heavily represented within the ruling elites, both the recent ex Prime Minister and President are Shia and ironically the founder of Pakistan was a Shia.

India, Pakistan and Iran are all signed up as observers to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. They may have old scores but, presumably, their governments can see which way the economic and military winds are blowing. Straight towards them basically.

[mfp123]

although countries in the middle east are muslim it doesnt mean they are not as independent as every other country.

different languages, different cultures, different countries.

we wouldnt generalise british and russians as being the same because they are both christian countries or say that the scots have a brotherhood with greeks because they are all christian.

iran for starters is not an Arab country it is persian and has a vastly different culture to much of the middle east.

Edited September 1, 2013 by mfp123

[Frost]

I can assure you a British Muslim would choose an Indonesian Muslim over a British Christian in a heartbeat. Islam is like no other religion in earth.

[mfp123]

I can assure you a British Muslim would choose an Indonesian Muslim over a British Christian in a heartbeat. Islam is like no other religion in earth.

its just very complicated there. turkey have been the most vocal about attacking syria. there is no love lost between iraq and iran, and at the moment saudi arabia, bahrain, UAE have a kind of pact with israel at the moment as they want to see off the muslim brotherhood in egypt and they both dislike syria and iran. even though the muslim brotherhood and saudi arabia are both sunni, saudi arabia is against them.

theres just layer upon layer of politics, and no real dividing line about what is going on. theres certainly no common ground in the middle east just because they all have the same religion.

throw in the israel/palestinian issue, and its hard to work out who hates who more on any given day.

Edited September 1, 2013 by mfp123