Reuters/New Delhi
The government will use an upcoming visit by Barack Obama to press the US to remove Indian oil companies from a list naming firms
doing business in Iran, and to seek priority access to US LNG exports, sources in the oil ministry said.
The US president will arrive in New Delhi on January 25 and hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited
Washington in September. An official agenda has not been released.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed three Indian companies as having commercial activity in Iran’s energy sector
in a report this week, potentially making it difficult for them to do business with other countries, mainly the US.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Oil India and Indian Oil Corporation, which have been on the list since 2010, cited interests in
Iran’s Farsi concession in their 2013-14 annual reports but told the GAO they had ceased activity in 2007, the GAO said.
“This (mention in the list) could hit Indian companies’ plans to invest in other countries, particularly in America,” one of the
sources said.
The US has imposed sanctions on Iran’s energy sector to put pressure on Tehran to halt its nuclear programme, which the West
suspects may seek to develop atomic weapons. Companies doing business in the sector face exclusion from the US financial system.
Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
Separately, oil ministry sources said India will seek preferential access to US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), even
though India does not have a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US.
“We want them to give us the freedom to lift LNG from any of their projects on a priority basis, including the ones that are
meant for FTA nations,” an official said.
Members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) shout slogans as they push a police barricade while they protest
against the release of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s controversial film, in New Delhi, yesterday.
