Saudi Arabia may increase its crude oil market share through the Indian market, especially after the US sanctions on Iran, TradeArabia reported.

Saudi Aramco will ship an additional 2 million barrels per month to Indian Oil Corporation (IOL) between July and December, based on the existing term supply deal between the two companies.

“We have told them we will be taking 2 million barrels every month for six months from July (about 1.6 million tons in total) and they have agreed,” Arun Kumar Sharma, the Director (Finance) of IOC.

Indian Oil has a term deal with Saudi Aramco to buy a total of 5.6 million tons in the fiscal year (FY) 2019/20, in addition to an option of purchasing another 2 million tons.

India was Iran’s second largest oil customer after China and was one of the eight countries that were granted six-month waivers to continue buying oil from Iran after the US re-imposed sanctions on the Iranian oil and put an end to all sanction waivers for all Iranian oil buyers.