India to boost oil imports from Saudi Arabia
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Roshan Amiri
- . August 18, 2022
- . Update: August 24, 2022 12:33 am
Saudi arabia – According to statistics gathered from trade and industry sources, India’s imports of crude oil from Russia declined in July for the first time since March along with its overall purchase, while supplies from Saudi Arabia increased for the first time in five months.
While prices for Russian supplies have increased due to strong demand, Indian refiners have increased their purchases of long-term supplies from Saudi Arabia due to attractive pricing.
In July, India imported 877,400 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Russia, a decrease of roughly 7.3% from June. Moscow remained India’s second-largest oil supplier after Iraq.
Indian refiners are snatching up cheap Russian oil after some Western nations and businesses refused to buy from Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine in late February.
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As several refineries planned maintenance turnarounds for August, India, the third-largest importer and consumer of oil globally, shipped in 3.2% less oil in July at 4.63 million bpd than in June, according to the data.
The statistics indicated that after the producer reduced official selling prices (OSPs) in June and July compared with May, India’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia increased by 25.6% to 824,700 bpd in July, the highest level in three months. Saudi Arabia maintained its third-place ranking among India’s suppliers.
“Since the majority of refiners have long-term contracts with Saudi Arabia, they are only able to minimally alter their operations. For June and July, they might have used lower OSPs to fulfill their obligations under the term contract “Ehsan Ul Haq, a Refinitiv analyst, stated.
The statistics indicated that India’s overall imports of oil from the Middle East decreased somewhat in July as the country reduced its purchases from Iraq by 9.3% from June to below 1 million bpd for the first time in ten months.
According to Haq, India has increased its imports of the diesel-rich ESPO grade from Russia, which could further reduce demand for similar grades from west Africa.
According to the data, the share of OPEC nations in India’s total imports decreased slightly in July compared to June and fell to its lowest level between April and July of this fiscal year.
