Saudi Arabia is seeking to benefit from a payment dispute between Iran and India by selling additional cargoes of crude oil to refiners in the South Asian nation, two people with direct knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg.
Saudi Aramco has told refiners in India it can replace some of the Iranian crude, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. A spokesman for Aramco declined to comment.
International sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program have prevented some refiners in India from finding banks willing to transfer payments for oil. India voluntarily ended a system that channeled funds through a bank in Germany, a government official said April 5. National Iranian Oil Co. said July 3 it warned some Indian companies about payment delays. India owed $2 billion to the Persian Gulf state for its unpaid crude bills, NIOC said May 31.
Aramco last month secured sales to three of nine refiners that it approached in Asia and Europe following a pledge by the world’s biggest crude exporter to meet global demand as crude traded over $100 a barrel, people with knowledge of the sales said last month.
