India's Bharat Petroleum has turned to Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, for higher supplies in 2012/13, fearing global sanctions may jeopardise trade with Iran, industry sources said on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil supplier to India, the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer, and is the only oil producer with significant spare capacity to replace any fall in supply from its regional rival Iran.
Iran has offered extra oil supplies to Asian buyers as it seeks to retain market share in the face of western sanctions aimed at stopping Tehran using its nuclear programme to develop weapons. Iran denies it has such an ambition. BPCL, India's second-biggest state refiner, is the third Indian company after Hindustan Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to seek higher volumes under term deals from Saudi Arabia. It is seeking a 27 percent increase to 152,000 barrels per day (bpd) in its oil deal with Saudi Arabia for 2012/13 from the previous year, one of the sources said.
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