Crude oil imports from West Asia on the rise: Pradhan

According to data shared by Oil Minister, share of ten West Asian nations in India's crude oil imports rose marginally to 59.2% in 2015-16

Despite efforts at diversifying sources of crude oil imports, India’s dependence on West Asian nations rose in 2015-16, according to the latest data on imports shared by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Data show the share of 10 West Asian nations in India’s imports dropped from 62.5 per cent in 2012-13 to 57.5 per cent in 2014-15 but rose marginally to 59.2 per cent during the first 11 months of the previous financial year (2015-16).

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India imported 109 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil from the 10 nations between April 2015 and February 2016, around 59.2 per cent of total imports of 184 mt during that period. The increased share in 2015-16 as compared to 2014-15 was mainly driven by higher imports from Iraq (33 per cent increase to 32 mt) and Saudi Arabia (nine per cent rise to 37 mt) even as imports from Iran remained flat at 10 mt.

Also, supplies from Kuwait dipped to 10 mt from 18 mt in 2014-15 while imports from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) dipped to 14 mt from 16 mt. Africa overtook South America to become the second-largest source of crude oil for India during 2015-16. Africa supplied 35.7 mt, ahead of 28.10 mt from South America. In 2014-15, South America had supplied 34.5 mt, including 24.4 mt from Venezuela. In April-February 2015-16, Venezuelan supplies fell to 21.3 mt.

Pradhan said India imported almost the entire 8.2 mt LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) from West Asia in 2015-16 — as compared to 8.3 mt in the previous financial year — with Qatar the largest supplier at 3.2 mt, followed by Saudi Arabia (2.24 mt), the UAE (1.49 mt) and Kuwait (848,000 tonnes).