India increased its crude oil imports from Latin America and Africa in April and May, following a disruption in supplies from the Middle East and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war, according to a Reuters analysis published Monday.
Crude imports by Indian refiners from countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Angola and Nigeria saw a rise, even as they continued to procure supplies from Russia, the report said, citing preliminary Kpler data.
Last month, Russia remained the primary oil exporter to India, with UAE and Saudi Arabia rounding off the top three. Brazil and Venezuela were the fourth and the fifth-largest suppliers respectively. Venezuela is on track to replace Brazil as India's fourth-largest oil supplier in May, the report said, citing Kpler data.
In April, India imported 1.6 million barrels per day of oil from Russia, a 29.4% monthly decline from March, while purchases from Iraq were skipped. India also procured oil supplies from Iran after seven years following a temporary US waiver, the report said.
Meanwhile, imports from UAE nearly tripled to 669,700 b/d in April from 230,600 b/d in the previous month. Supplies from Saudi Arabia were steady at about 619,500 b/d, the report said.
In April, India's oil imports stood at 4.57 mmbbl/d, unchanged sequentially, but 15.5% lower than the corresponding month last year, the report said.
In May, India is expected to import about 1.9 mmbbl/d of Russian crude and about 41,000 b/d of Iraqi oil, the report said, citing preliminary data from Kpler.
has reached out to India's Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for a comment.