MUMBAI: India is open to importing more oil and gas from the United States, that had emerged as a new crude source in recent years, agency reports from Singapore said quoting foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale.
Gokhale was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Singapore attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We expressed our readiness to import more gas and more oil from United States as a way of expanding trade,” Gokhale said as per Reuters report. He said India is expected to import about $4 billion worth of oil from US this year.
The announcement is significant at a time India was among the eight countries that won a partial waiver from the US sanctions on Iran.
India had to substantially cut its crude imports from Iran to be eligible for US waiver.While Indian Oil Corporation and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals said they will continue to import from Iran, private refiner Reliance Industries and other state-owned refiners have halted Iran purchases.