India to Pay Another $700 Million of Debt to Iran by October 12

India will pay another part of its oil debt to Iran by October 12, amounting to $700 million. This payment is the second installment of a $1.4 billion debt that Iran requested from India in mid-summer this year. Following the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, Iran demanded the repayment of $1.4 billion of its oil assets in India, with the first installment paid on October 1. India is the second-largest importer of oil from Iran after China, although in recent years, due to severe sanctions against Iran, it was impossible for India to pay for its imported oil from Iran. However, since the Geneva nuclear agreement in December 2013, the repayment of part of India's oil debts to Iran has become feasible. Nonetheless, according to Reuters, as of the end of August this year, Indian refineries owed about $6.6 billion to Iran. The stringent sanctions that severely impacted Iran's oil exports and payments for oil purchases were imposed against the Islamic Republic from early 2012, but it is expected that with the implementation of the nuclear agreement, these sanctions will be lifted early next year, allowing Iran to produce, export, and earn revenue from its oil production. In the first installment paid by Indian refineries on Wednesday, Essar refinery paid $335 million, Mangalore and Petrochemical refinery paid $300 million, Indian Oil Corporation paid $62 million, and Hindustan Petroleum paid $3 million to Iran. According to Reuters, Essar owes $3.1 billion, Mangalore $2.8 billion, Indian Oil Corporation $581 million, HPCL $97 million, and Hindustan Petroleum $29 million to Iran. Indian refineries provided the first installment of their repayment to Iran in the form of rupees to the state bank UCO Bank. Regarding this payment, three informed sources directly involved in the matter told Reuters that this Indian bank had previously arranged the necessary dollars for transfer to the Central Bank of Iran's account at Bank Muscat in Oman. According to Reuters sources, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department had previously agreed that $1.4 billion of Iran's oil assets in India would be deposited in two installments into the account of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Oman. However, Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment on this matter. According to the report, after the U.S. sanctions in 2012, Indian refineries provided 45% of the money for Iranian oil in rupees to UCO Bank and withdrew more than $2.5 billion of this money in the form of imports of items exempt from sanctions from India. Since 2012, part of the financial transactions between Iran and India was also conducted through Halkbank in Turkey, but newer U.S. sanctions halted this process in February 2013.