(Repeats story published on Wednesday with no changes to text)
* Share of African oil in India's imports rose to 1 yr high
* India skipped oil imports from CIS after a gap of 3-1/2
yrs
By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Middle East producers' share
of India's market fell to a four-month low in September while
that of Africa rose to one year high, according to data obtained
from industry sources.
Last month, India's oil imports from its top oil supplier
Iraq declined by about 18% from August, the data showed, as
OPEC's second biggest producer deepened output cuts to
compensate for overproduction. Lower purchases from Iraq and other regional producers
squeezed Middle East producers' share of India's September
market to about 61%, according to the data.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
its allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+ are cutting
output by about 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd) until end-2020
to support global prices. The group had asked Iraq to make
additional compensation cuts until December. "Middle Eastern exports were reduced in September due to
OPEC+ cuts," said Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with Refinitiv.
"Iraq was under pressure to reduce supplies further due to
higher exports in the past."
India's overall imports in September totalled 3.48 million
bpd, a decline of about 9% from a year earlier and 12% from
August, the data showed. African oil accounted for 21% of India's imports last month,
the highest monthly share since September 2019.
Low freight rates and a more competitive Brent benchmark
compared with Middle East's Dubai supported India's African oil
purchases, Haq said.
India skipped oil imports from Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) countries in September for the first time in 3-1/2
years, the data showed. Latin American crude's share also fell
to 8% from about 10% in August.
Lower imports from Middle East pulled down OPEC's overall
share in India's September oil imports to record low of about
74% in April-September, the first six months of this fiscal
year, the data shows.
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Share of OPEC's oil in India's import droped to record low https://tmsnrt.rs/3m84LpS
India's oil imports from key suppliers https://tmsnrt.rs/3mb65IC
Share of various regions in India's oil imports https://tmsnrt.rs/3odhqte
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