Iranian rules out report on discount oil sale offer to India

Iranian Oil Company's Director for International Affairs Mohammad Ali Khatibi said here Tuesday news on Iran's offer to sell oil to India at discount rate are baseless. On Friday, the Indian oil minister said that crude oil from Iran costs India $2 less per barrel than global prices, outlining the reasons for the country's desire to source oil from sanctions-hit Tehran. Khatibi, who is meanwhile Iran's OPEC governor, referred to the beginning of a psychological campaign launched on the international scene to damage Iran's oil exports to urge Tehran to lower its crude oil prices at the international oil markets, and said, "Iran is selling oil based on official selling prices (OSP) to different buyers in Asia, Europe and Africa." India's relentless search for hydrocarbons to fuel its booming economy has managed the rather neat diplomatic trick of annoying Washington, delighting Tehran and intriguing Baghdad, all the while leaving the Indian Treasury fretting about how to pay for its oil imports; given the tightening sanctions on fiscal dealings with Iran. Iranian-Indian trade ties continue to deepen, with Indian-based Consul General of Iran Hassan Nourian predicting that bilateral trade between India and Iran will be worth $25 billion by 2017.