NEW DELHI: India, which has reduced its oil imports from Iran, thereby satisfying US waiver conditions, will take up for review its dependence on Iranian crude oil in the New Year, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said here today.
“I think we are well within the structure of US waiver.
The bottom line of the conditions of the waiver has been satisfied which is you should not increase dependency on it,” he said on the sidelines of a CII seminar.
Khurshid also said a review in this regard “will be done in the new year”.
Earlier this year, the US had exempted India and six other countries from tough new financial sanctions on Iran’s oil trade citing significant reduction in imports of Iranian oil by them.
Crude imports from Iran have a steadily declining share in India’s total oil imports with the levels dropping from over 16 per cent in 2008-09 to almost 10 per cent in 2011-12.
Khurshid said India has taken a “principled position” on the issue and was compliant with the UN sanctions on Iran.
“When you take a principled position, sometimes it hurts you. But because of this principled position, India is different from many other countries and has been appreciated by the US and Iran,” he said.
Asked about China being India’s competitor in acquiring energy assets abroad, Khurshid said, “We are not competing with China.
“China can be in partnership with us in many places and the offer remains open. China can collaborate with us. China can take its own path. China can explore its own opportunities and we can explore our own. Why should we look at China as a competition or China as something that we have necessarily have to match?” the Minister said.
Khurshid denied that India was not successful in securing energy assets abroad and said, “Afghanistan is inviting us beyond Bamiyan for energy, for mineral (exploration).
“The entrepreneurs should be willing to be adventurous and should be willing to go new land. We have vast assets now in Africa as Indian businessmen have quietly made in big way,” he said.-PTI
