NEW DELHI: India’s top sources of crude oil have gone through a marked change over the last year, primarily due to the US’ sanctions on Iran. With oil supplies from what had been India’s third-largest supplier mostly cut off, other countries have begun climbing up the list.
Not least of these is the US itself, with crude oil imports from the country nearly doubling. According to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), crude oil imports from the US stood at 4.49 million tonnes (MT) during the April-August period of this year, a 72 per cent jump from the 2.6 MT imported during the same period last year.
The country is now India’s sixth-largest oil supplier by volume.
Iran, on the other hand, is no longer among India’s top ten crude oil suppliers with just 1.97 MT shipped during the period, an 85 per cent decline from last year’s 13.3 MT.
Other countries that have increased crude oil supplies to India include Nigeria and Russia.
Data from DGCIS for this fiscal year shows that Nigeria has taken Iran’s erstwhile spot on the list, becoming India’s third-largest oil supplier with a 22 per cent increase in crude oil shipments from 5.8 MT in April-August 2018 to 7.17 MT this year.
Imports from Russia have also risen significantly. The period saw India buying around 2.13 MT from the Eurasian powerhouse, a two-fold increase from 973,389 tonnes it supplied during the same period last year.
The ongoing crisis in the South American country of Venezuela has also seen supplies from the nation drop from 7.6 MT to 6.2 MT.