Jan 31 (Reuters) - Essar Oil  
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  , a key Indian buyer of Iranian crude, imported about 37 percent less oil from the sanctions-hit nation in December compared with November but it shipped in about 7.6 percent more oil from Tehran in the first nine months of the current contract year beginning April 1, tanker arrival data made available to Reuters shows.     India, Iran's top oil client after China, imported about 29 percent less oil from Tehran in the first nine months of the contract year, the data showed. 
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       Last month, the United States granted 180-day waivers on Iran sanctions to China, India and a number of other countries in exchange for their cutting purchases of oil from the Islamic Republic.  
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        The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions to block Tehran's oil revenue over its disputed nuclear ambitions, which they suspect is aimed at building weapons. Iran denies this claim.     Essar imported 40,100 barrels per day (bpd) oil from Iran in December, a decline of about 58.3 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.      It shipped an average 112,700 bpd in 2012, about 22 percent higher from the low base of the previous year when its liftings from Iran were curbed due to payment problems and because of a month-long full shutdown of its plant for an upgrade.     Essar, like other Indian refiners, maximised purchases from Iran in the first half of 2012 ahead of sanctions and to honour its 2011/12 annual deal.     The private refiner has renewed its term deal with Iran to buy 100,000 bpd in the financial year ending March 31, 2013, but company sources said the refiner plans to cut purchases by 15 percent after a directive from the government.      To meet this objective, Essar will continue to lift less volume from Iran, a source earlier told Reuters. 
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   The refiner began cutting its imports from Iran from November.     Essar has significantly raised processing of heavy and ultra-heavy grades, including those from Latin America, to improve refining margins.      <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^      Graphic on Essar's crude imports since 2009 to 2012        
  http://link.reuters.com/zuz63t
      Top crude oil suppliers for Reliance and Essar:            
  http://link.reuters.com/buc65t
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>      Essar aims to buy 15-20 percent of its crude oil needs from the domestic market, 35-40 percent from Latin American sources, and 30-40 percent from the Middle East, it said in May.     In December, it imported about 71 percent of its crude oil needs from Latin American nations and continued to skip imports from Brazil for a fourth straight month, the data showed.      No comment was available from Essar.       Following are details of Essar's crude and condensate imports in December and since the beginning of this year. Volumes are in 1,000 bpd:     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Region/         Dec       Nov       %chg        Dec       %chg       Jan-Dec    Jan-Dec    %chg  Country        2012      2012      mth/mth     2011       yr/yr        2012       2011    yr/yr  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Brazil          0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          7.6        0.0      --  Ecuador        72.6       0.0         --        0.0         --         11.3        0.0      --  Colombia       69.4      70.2       -1.1       31.4      121.5        26.4        2.7    892.3  Venezuela      68.2      35.0       95.3        0.0         --        31.8        0.0       --  Mexico          0.0      35.5     -100.0        0.0         --         20.1        0.0      --  Brunei          0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          0.0        1.6  -100.0  Neutral Zone    0.0      19.9     -100.0        0.0         --          3.3        0.0      --  Iran           40.1      63.7      -37.1       96.0      -58.3        112.7       92.2    22.3  Iraq           31.1      68.3      -54.5       64.2      -51.6         35.4       51.8   -31.6  Qatar          13.7      13.6        0.6       16.0      -14.9         19.7       14.3    37.1  S Arabia        0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          1.7       17.5   -90.6  UAE             0.0      18.9     -100.0       18.9     -100.0         21.3       28.6   -25.5  Nigeria         0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          2.5        2.4     3.2  Egypt           0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          4.6        3.1    49.0  Kuwait          0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          0.0        1.6  -100.0  Oman            0.0       0.0         --        0.0         --          3.1        0.0      --  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  TOTAL ALL     295.1     325.1       -9.2      226.5       30.3        301.5      215.8    39.7  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    NOTE: The total may not tally as numbers in tonnes have been rounded off after converting them into barrels per day using a conversion factor 7.2 barrels in a tonne divided by the number of days.        (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)  ((nidhi.verma@thomsonreuters.com)(+91 11 4178 1018)(Reuters Messaging: nidhi.verma.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))  Keywords: INDIA ESSAR/IRAN