Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Russia remained the largest source of crude for India in April, supplying 1.6 million barrels a day (mbd), followed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Venezuela and Qatar, data from shipment-tracking firm Kpler has shown.India imported nearly 4.4 mbd of crude in April, marginally lower than in March (4.5 mbd) and 85% of Feb shipments (5.2 mbd), amid the ongoing disruption of supply flows through Strait of Hormuz. Supplies from Russia were down 20% from nearly 2 mbd in March, which was the highest since May last year. While Saudi Arabia (685,000 barrels a day) and UAE (575,000 barrels a day) ramped up supplies, India resumed imports from Iran and Venezuela to plug the gap caused by disruptions from other West Asian nations.
No shipments arrived from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar or Saudi-Kuwait neutral zone in April, despite Iraq usually being among India’s top crude suppliers.While shipments from Saudi Arabia came through East-West crude pipeline, the UAE sent consignments via ADCOP pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Supplies from other Gulf producers continue to depend largely on the Strait of Hormuz. ‘India’s LPG import situation to remain tight in near term’ For the first time since March 2019, Indian refiners also sourced nearly 1.3 lakh barrels of oil a day from Iran in April, after the US eased sanctions for a month to help reduce global crude prices. They also secured about 2.9 lakh barrels a day from Venezuela after a gap of 11 months.Imports of LPG fell to less than 1 million tonnes (MT) in April, down from 2-2.2 MT during the pre-crisis months. Data showed that India received nearly 9.5 lakh tonnes of the primary cooking fuel in April, about 16% less than March shipments, which were estimated at a little over 1.1 MT. The supply gap was plugged by a 30% increase in domestic LPG production. With no resolution to the global energy crisis in sight, experts believe imports are likely to remain affected in the near future.“India is, therefore, likely to continue facing tight LPG import availability in the near term. The situation remains sensitive, as disruptions of Middle East supply, India’s key sourcing region, are keeping import availability constrained,” said Sumit Ritolia, lead analyst at Kpler. The diversification of supplies from non-Gulf countries – including the US, Australia, Canada, Norway and Russia – helped India secure 1.9 million tonnes of natural gas in April, up from 1.6 MT in March.
