Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 17/ Trend M. Moezzi
India, which hasn't paid Iran for the oil it has imported for the first seven months of 2011, is worried that Iran will want the $15 bln interest for delaying the pay off, Fars News Agency reported.
In the meanwhile, India is looking for a substitute to replace Iran as its oil supplier.
Indian firms had struggled for more than six months to pay their $5 billion debt to Tehran as they faced problems. They paid off the debts of Iran's oil in August 2011.
The sanctions against Iran have affected countries' payments for oil to Iran and India's debt to Iran has grown, although the situation has improved recently, according to Mr. Nejabat. India, China and Russia oppose oil sanctions against Iran and try to benefit from the current conditions because they know Iran needs its oil customers.
The U.S new sanctions have worried Iran's Asian oil customers and they are concerned they will have no way to pay for their Iranian oil imports.
After Turkey's Halk Bank refused from some Iran-India money transfers, India began looking for an alternative.
Mangalore and Petrochemicals, 2 big importers of Iran's oil to India with 150,000 bpd, have found other sources of oil through Saudi Arabia's Aramco and Kuwait Petroleum, another source said.
Currently, Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide 20,000 bpd of oil to India in 2012.
