NEW DELHI: India fetched $86 billion from export of petroleum products during April 2022 to February 2023, 60% more than last year. The countries, which have imported most from India, are Netherlands, the US, the UAE, Israel, Singapore, Turkey and South Africa.
“While import of crude oil and petroleum products has cost $193 billion during April 2022 to February 2023, the export of petroleum products fetched $86 billion during the same period, which is 21.2% of the total commodity export of India,” said Rameshwar Teli, Minister of State Petroleum and Natural Gas, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
As per the commerce ministry data, from April 2022 to January 2023, the Netherlands ($8.9 billion) the UAE ($6.6 billion), and the US ($4.8 billion) were the top buyers of petroleum products from India. Togo ($4.5 billion), Brazil ($3.9 billion), Singapore ($3.9 billion) and Turkey $2.9 billion are the other large importers. India imports 85% of its crude needs from 39 countries.
However, it exports refined petroleum products including high-speed diesel, motor spirit, aviation turbine fuel, naphtha to different countries. In 2021-22, India exported oil worth $50.7 billion for the same period, and Singapore was the top buyer of India’s petroleum products last year. In 2019, oil firms exported 65,685 TMT of $35.8 billion.
Meanwhile, India and China have been the largest buyers of Russian oil after Russia -Ukraine war broke out. As per energy tracker Vortexa, Russia provided 1.26 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to India in January 2023. Russia, whose share in India’s import basket was less than 1% until January 2022, had a 40% in February 2023.