India to continue energy imports from Iran

India reiterated that it will not halt its oil imports from Iran despite the US-engineered sanctions against the Islamic Republic's energy sector, a report said. The New Delhi will continue its energy ties with Tehran, the Economic Times of India quoted senior Indian government officials as saying on Wednesday. India's state-run General Insurance Corp (GIC) has recently agreed to provide insurance cover for tankers carrying Iranian crude oil. Last month, India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily emphasized that his country will not halt imports of Iranian crude oil, rejecting recent Western news reports to the contrary. While noting that unilateral anti-Iran sanctions by the US and the European Union have caused some difficulties for India in terms of insuring Iranian oil shipments, Moily told reporters in New Delhi that his country intends to establish a special fund for insuring oil imports originating from the Islamic Republic. The remarks by the Indian official came in response to the Western media reports on New Delhi's decision to halt its Iranian oil purchases, which he strongly denied. Iran and India which have deep historical and cultural relations are now seeking to further expand political and economic ties. India, the world's fourth-largest petroleum consumer, is Iran's second largest oil customer after China and purchases around $12 bln worth of Iranian crude every year, about 12 percent of its consumption.