Bloomberg reported that Indian refiners paid EUR 1 billion to partially clear debt on crude oil purchases from Iran which will now resume shipments to the Asian nation.

Sources said that money was routed through Istanbul based Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS. Payments were made by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, Essar Oil Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

Mr Mahmoud Bahmani central bank governor of Iranian said that refiners in India have faced difficulty in finding banks to transfer payments for oil purchases from Iran which is constrained by international sanctions over its nuclear program. India owes USD 5 billion for crude.

An official for the state owned bank said that Istanbul based Turkiye Halk Bankasi complies with United Nations resolutions on Iran and doesn't step outside them.

The gridlock, which started in December when India's central bank scrapped a mechanism to pay for oil in euros and dollars, threatened USD 9.5 billion in trade between the nations.

Three people familiar with the matter said that Iran didn't give Indian refiners loading dates or shipping amounts for August. This information is typically provided by the middle of the previous month.

Indian refiners, seeking to end the impasse opened accounts with state owned Union Bank of India Limited to route money through a lender in Turkey as an experimental option.

India in February arranged for State Bank of India, the nation's biggest lender, to help in making payments through Hamburg-based Europaeisch Iranische Handelsbank AG only to voluntarily halt that agreement in April.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)