By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The share of Canada and the
United States of America in India's January oil imports surged
to a record 11% while that of the Middle East and South America
declined, data obtained from sources showed.
Asia's third-largest economy imported about 4.8 million
barrels per day (bpd) oil in January, a decline of 6% from the
previous month and marginally higher than a year earlier.
India's imports from Canada and the United States almost
doubled from December to 142,000 bpd and 367,000 bpd,
respectively. The United States emerged as the fourth-biggest
supplier to India after the United Arab Emirates.
"Demand for gasoline in India recovered at a faster pace
than other products and North American grades are
gasoline-rich," said Ehsan Ul-Haq, lead analyst for Oil Research
and Forecasts at Refinitiv, adding that most Middle Eastern
grades were distillate-rich.
"Crude from America was cheap compared to other producing
regions in November while Canadian oil is sold at a deeper
discount to Brent."
India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer,
ships in more than 80% of its crude needs and relies heavily on
the Middle East.
However, its reliance on the Middle East is declining as
refiners are diversifying crude sources to hedge against
disruption and buy cheaper barrels from elsewhere to boost
margins.
The share of Middle Eastern oil in India's oil imports last
month plunged to an eight-month low of about 61% on low supplies
from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, while that of Latin America declined
to a six-month low of about 6.4%.
Iraq has cut annual oil supply deals for Indian refiners for
2021. Saudi supplies during the month declined by 20% from
December. Despite lower imports, Iraq continued to be the top oil
seller to India last month followed by Saudi Arabia.
Low supplies from the Middle East and South America dragged
the share of OPEC nations in India's overall oil imports to a
record low in April-January.
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Share of various regions in India's oil imports https://tmsnrt.rs/2P1k34r
India's oil imports from key suppliers https://tmsnrt.rs/3bu8wCg
Opec's share of India's oil imports drop to record low https://tmsnrt.rs/37Bihxa
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