India to cut oil imports from Iran by a quarter over gas field row

India plans to cut its oil imports from Iran by around a quarter over a row on the development of a natural gas field.

Diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Tehran have arisen over the contested rights to develop a natural gas field in Iran. India is threatening to drop orders of crude oil if an Indian consortium is not awarded the rights to develop the location.

India is Iran's second largest oil client after China, with India’s crude oil demand overall being the third largest in the world.

Most of the state refiners did not respond to queries on the matter and India's oil ministry also said it had no immediate comment.