700 Million Dollars of Iran's Oil Debt from India to be Paid on Wednesday

According to Reuters, Indian sources report that the country's refineries will deposit 700 million dollars of Iran's blocked oil money in India on Wednesday this week. Since early 2014, following the interim nuclear agreement, India has gradually paid part of its oil debts to Iran. Since the fall of 2013, India has paid a total of three billion dollars to Iran. Iran and six world powers reached a comprehensive nuclear agreement in July this year, which, according to Reuters, could lead to the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran in 2016. Indian refineries are set to deposit the equivalent of 700 million dollars in rupees into Iran's bank account at UCO Bank in India on Wednesday. Informed sources told Reuters that this Indian bank had previously provided the necessary dollars for transfer to the Central Bank of Iran's account at Bank Muscat in Oman. According to this report, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has agreed to transfer 1.4 billion dollars of Iran's oil assets in India to the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic in Oman in two installments. It is still unclear when the second installment will be delivered to Iran. A spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury declined to comment on this matter. Following U.S. sanctions in 2012, Indian refineries were to transfer 45 percent of Iran's oil money in rupees to Tehran's bank account at UCO Bank, while the remainder was to be transferred to an account at Halkbank in Turkey. For a while, the two countries conducted these financial transfers through Halkbank, but newer U.S. sanctions halted this process in February 2013. Reuters writes that by the end of August, the total debt of Indian refineries to Iran had reached 6.6 billion dollars. Essar refinery owes 3.1 billion, Mangalore 2.8 billion, Indian Oil Corporation 581 million, HPCL 97 million, and Hindustan Petroleum 29 million dollars to Iran. India is the second-largest oil customer of Iran after China. Regarding India's 15 billion investment in Iran, last Wednesday, Nitin Gadkari, India's Minister of Shipping, Highways and Road Transport, stated that the country would invest one trillion rupees, equivalent to 15 billion and 625 thousand dollars, in the Chabahar port of Iran, provided that Iran reduces its gas selling price to India by half. Besides developing the Chabahar port, India is also interested in developing the Farzad B gas field in Iran and constructing a petrochemical complex in Chabahar. He mentioned that he is willing to pay 1.5 dollars per million BTU for Iran's gas, while Iran offers a price of two dollars and 95 cents. This gas is required for a project to build a petrochemical complex for producing chemical fertilizers in Chabahar by Indian companies. This Indian official had previously signed an 85 million dollar contract for part of the Chabahar port development project during his visit to Iran in May.