Iranian crude reaches India under sanctions waiver since March 20: TankerTrackers data

Two million barrels of Iranian crude oil have reached India under a US sanctions waiver since March 20, TankerTrackers data showed Friday.

The tanker-tracking platform did not provide vessel details, but said the delivery was made possible under a sanctions waiver.

The reported arrival comes after the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Iran General License U on March 20, authorizing transactions ordinarily necessary for the sale, delivery, and offloading of Iranian-origin crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels on or before March 20 this year, through April 19.

The license permits activities related to docking, anchoring, tug assistance, bunkering, inspections, pilotage, and discharge of covered cargoes, providing a temporary window for previously loaded Iranian oil shipments to complete delivery.

Meanwhile, India announced on Saturday that it has resumed oil purchases from Iran, the first time in seven years, amid the ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted energy supplies around the world, particularly in Asian countries.

This is the first public announcement by the South Asian nation since 2019, when it stopped importing oil from Iran after US waivers on the purchase of sanctioned Iranian oil were not renewed for buyers.

The development could mark a limited resumption of Iranian crude arrivals to major Asian buyers as war-related disruptions in the Middle East and shipping risks around the Strait of Hormuz continue to reshape regional energy flows.

Separately, India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri met with Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi in Doha on Friday, and the two discussed energy supplies amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The two "stressed the importance of an early end to disruption in global energy supplies and restoration of normalcy; and emphasized the need for unimpeded freedom of navigation and the global flow of commerce to maintain global supply chains," Puri said through the US social media company X.

Al-Kaabi has reaffirmed the Qatar’s commitment to remain a reliable energy supplier, he added.

India imported 41.4% of its LNG from Qatar in 2024-25.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint, has been disrupted since the US and Israel on Feb. 28 launched an air offensive on Iran.