India-Iran talks soon over oil dues - Iran envoy

A worker walks atop a tanker wagon to check the freight level at an oil terminal on the outskirts of Kolkata November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iran will soon begin talks with India on finalising a mechanism to recover more than $6.5 billion in oil dues held by Indian refiners, Iran's envoy to India said on Friday, after Western powers and Tehran clinched a nuclear deal earlier this week. "In the very near future we will exchange delegations to discuss how we can handle these issues," Gholam Reza Ansari told Reuters. He said that the meeting would happen in a "matter of weeks," but that the place and time are yet to be decided. Indian refiners owe Iran about 55 percent of the bill for crude bought since February 2013 after banking channels were shut under pressure from U.S. and European sanctions. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)