Reliance suspends exports to Iran

NEW DELHI, June 4 (UPI) -- Reliance Industries Ltd., the largest private-sector oil conglomerate in India, stopped petroleum exports to Iran under pressure from U.S.-backed sanctions.

U.S. lawmakers in April introduced a bill imposing harsh penalties on companies involved in the Iranian energy sector as punishment for a controversial nuclear program.

The bill imposes a ban on said companies from doing business in the United States. A separate Washington measure in December called on the Export-Import Bank of the United States to suspend its $900 million assistance package to Reliance.

Reliance was exporting $280 million worth of its total output from two refineries in Iran. Reliance officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the company suspended gasoline exports to Iran in May, the Economic Times of India reports.

Those officials suggested the April sanctions measure contributed to their decision.

The Washington sanctions regime on Iran also played a role in a decision by New Delhi to balk on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline from the South Pars gas field. Islamabad and Tehran signed bilateral agreements on the project in May, though India's role remains in doubt.