India spent the past five years cutting its Iranian oil imports to comply with international sanctions. Now, Asia’s second-largest energy user needs the curbs to ease as fighting threatens its supply from Iraq. Tougher U.S. sanctions on Iran meant India was obliged to halve purchases from the Persian Gulf nation since 2009. Indian refiners, which get 85 percent of their crude from overseas, say they expect the restrictions to soften. “We may be exempted from cutting imports from Iran this year,” P.P. Upadhya, managing director of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., the second-biggest Indian buyer of Iranian crude, said by phone on June 18. “We expect the U.S. will be softer on Iran as the conflict deepens in Iraq .” Benchmark crude prices are trading at a nine-month high as Islamic militants battle government forces in Iraq, which is now India’s second-biggest oil supplier. That’s boosting costs for importers […]