French banks BNP Paribas and Calyon stopped offering letters of credit (LCs) last year for oil sales to Iran because of political pressure from the United States over over Tehran’s nuclear programme, industry sources have said. Without the LCs, Indian refiner Reliance halted sales of gasoline and diesel.
But other sellers continued to deliver using the credit lines, the source said.
“The state oil company has negotiated open credit lines with sellers,” he said. “LCs are no longer needed.”
Transactions were settled in euros to avoid U.S. scrutiny, he added.
(Reporting by Simon Webb)
