India resorts to oil imports from Latin America and Africa

Indian refiners turned to oil imports from Latin America and Africa after supplies from the Middle East were disrupted as Israel and the United States' war against Iran restricted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to data provided by trade sources.

Until the start of the war at the end of February, the refineries of the world's third largest oil importer and consumer purchased most of their crude oil from the Middle East.

In April and May, Indian refineries increased imports from Venezuela, Brazil, Angola and Nigeria to compensate for the deficit, in addition to continuing to buy Russian oil, according to preliminary data from Kpler.

Last month, India stopped buying oil from Iraq when exports were halted, and received Iranian oil after a gap of seven years, following a temporary exemption granted by Washington to help stabilize global oil prices.

New Delhi reduced imports from Russia by about 29.4% from March to 1.6 million barrels per day as Nayara Energy closed its 400,000 barrels per day refinery for maintenance, the data showed.

However, in May, India is expected to receive about 1.9 million bpd of Russian oil and about 41,000 bpd of Iraqi oil, according to preliminary data from Kpler.

In total, India imported 4.57 million bpd of oil in April, unchanged from March but down 15.5% from a year earlier, according to the data.

UAE imports recovered in April to 669,700 bpd from 230,600 bpd in March, while Saudi Arabia's oil consumption remained at around 619,500 bpd, also according to the data.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the only Gulf producers with pipelines exporting crude oil bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain rely on the waterway for shipments.

Rising imports from the UAE helped arrest a decline in the Middle East's share of India's imports, while Russian oil's share fell from nearly 50% to around 35%.

Russia remained India's main oil supplier, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Brazil was the fourth largest supplier, while Venezuela ranked fifth. Venezuela is on track to become the fourth-largest supplier in May, according to data from Kpler.

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Source: CNN