Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: While Russia remained the largest supplier of crude to India in Feb, Saudi Arabia narrowed the gap and emerged as a close second, with supplies from the West Asian country rising by 30% to over 1 million barrels a day (mbd), compared to 7.7 lakh barrels in Jan this year.According to data shared by global data and analytics service provider Kpler, imports from Saudi Arabia largely remained in the range of 6-7 lakh barrels a day over the last couple of years. This was the highest import of crude from the country in nearly six years.In Feb, crude imports from Russia were recorded at a little over 1 mbd, compared to 1.1 mbd recorded in Jan and 1.2 mbd last Dec.Sumit Ritolia, lead research analyst, refining and modelling at Kpler, said that India’s dependence on crude from West Asia increased over the last two-three months as refiners pivoted away from a portion of Russian volumes. “As a result, the relative weight of Gulf-origin crude in India’s import basket rose,” he said.The situation, however, may change drastically this month, as nearly 2.5-2.7 mbd of India’s crude imports transit the Strait of Hormuz, largely sourced from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. The military strikes in the Gulf has disrupted the movement of cargoes from West Asia, and Indian refiners have started looking for alternative sources.The narrowing of the gap is significant in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s claim that Indian refiners will stop purchases from Russia, with govt maintaining that commercial interests will drive the decision.
