India's March oil imports fall 1.7 pct y/y - trade

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil imports in March fell 1.7 percent from a year ago while shipments in the fiscal year to March rose 5.6 percent as the country expanded its refining capacity, tanker arrival data obtained from trade sources and compiled by Thomson Reuters Analytics showed.

India shipped in about 4.07 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in March, a decline of about 12 percent from the previous month, the data showed.

India, Iran's biggest oil client after China, shippped in slightly more than 500,000 bpd of oil from Tehran, the highest in at least five years.

Iranian oil accounted for about 6.2 percent of New Delhi's overall imports in the last fiscal year with the Persian Gulf nation improving its ranking by a notch to emerge as the sixth biggest oil supplier to New Delhi.

The share of Middle East and African oil in India's overall purchases rose in 2015/16 while that of Latin America declined marginally as refiners stepped up cheaper, heavier barrels from nearby countries to save on freight costs, the data showed.

The following table shows India's imports by country according to tanker discharge information. Imports include condensate. Volumes are in '000 bpd.

REGION/COUNTRY Mar-16 Feb-16 %chg m/m Mar-15 %chg y/y 2016 2015 %chg

Latam

Brazil 23.6 34.7 -32.1 25.5 -7.5 41.3 48.3 -14.6

Colombia 0.0 0.0 -- 10.2 -100.0 23.3 67.1 -65.4

Ecuador 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 0.0 12.4 -100.0

Mexico 62.4 73.5 -15.1 193.4 -67.7 104.0 148.0 -29.8

Venezuela 542.6 656.0 -17.3 537.9 0.9 529.7 490.6 8.0

Guatemala 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 0.0 0.0 --

Argentina 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 0.0 0.0 --

TOTAL 628.6 764.2 -17.7 767.0 -18.0 698.3 766.4 -8.9

Asia

Brunei 19.2 19.3 -0.4 0.0 -- 25.5 23.7 7.8

Malaysia 77.5 113.8 -31.9 131.6 -41.2 82.2 83.2 -1.2

Indonesia 0.0 23.5 -100.0 0.0 -- 7.5 0.0 --

TOTAL 96.7 156.5 -38.3 131.6 -26.6 115.2 106.8 7.8

Middle East

Neutral zone 0.0 0.0 -- 102.4 -100.0 0.0 64.7 -100.0

Oman 30.5 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 10.4 11.2 -7.2

Iran 506.1 215.5 134.9 0.0 -- 299.2 126.0 137.5

Iraq 680.0 921.0 -26.2 647.8 5.0 841.9 558.4 50.8

Qatar 122.3 208.5 -41.4 73.0 67.4 115.2 68.4 68.4

Kuwait 300.3 192.8 55.8 428.5 -29.9 245.4 365.3 -32.8

S. Arabia 787.4 946.0 -16.8 841.4 -6.4 889.4 757.4 17.4

U.A.E. 354.7 312.2 13.6 279.2 27.1 312.5 369.0 -15.3

Dubai 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 5.6 0.0 --

Yemen 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 0.0 11.0 -100.0

TOTAL 2781.4 2796.0 -0.5 2372.2 17.2 2720.3 2331.3 16.7

C.I.S.

Azerbaijan 32.6 33.5 -2.8 0.0 -- 21.8 22.0 -1.0

TOTAL 32.6 33.5 -2.8 0.0 -- 21.8 22.0 -1.0

Africa

Nigeria 402.4 491.2 -18.1 503.4 -20.1 496.3 398.9 24.4

Angola 59.4 230.5 -74.2 153.4 -61.3 123.9 229.6 -46.0

Camroon 0.0 24.9 -100.0 53.3 -100.0 26.6 39.8 -33.3

Congo 0.0 32.7 -100.0 29.3 -100.0 10.4 20.6 -49.5

Chad 0.0 0.0 -- 32.3 -100.0 0.0 11.1 -100.0

Egypt 36.7 0.0 -- 35.6 3.2 24.6 50.6 -51.4

Gabon 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 0.0 3.6 -100.0

Sudan 0.0 22.0 -100.0 21.5 -100.0 7.0 7.4 -5.5

Eq Guinea 31.3 67.7 -53.9 41.1 -23.9 32.2 32.1 0.4

Algeria 0.0 0.0 -- 0.0 -- 7.6 10.3 -26.5

TOTAL 529.7 868.9 -39.0 869.8 -39.1 728.6 804.1 -9.4

TOTAL ALL 4068.9 4619.2 -11.9 4140.6 -1.7 4284.1 4030.7 6.3

NOTE: The total may not tally as numbers in tonnes have been rounded off after converting them into barrels per day using a conversion factor 7.3 barrels in a tonne divided by the number of day. Also, numbers for the previous months have been revised.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)