Indian refiners boosted imports of African crude oil in 2015 to the highest in at least five years and slightly cut their intake from Latin America as refiners benefited from changing global oil flow
Indian refiners boosted imports of African crude oil in 2015 to the highest in at least five years and slightly cut their intake from Latin America as refiners benefited from changing global oil flows caused by surplus supply.
In 2015, India imported 787,700 barrels per day (bpd) of African oil with the continent accounting for about a fifth of the South Asian nation’s overall imports from 16.7 per cent a year ago, according to data compiled by Reuters.
West Asian grades accounted for about 57 per cent of imports from 59 per cent a year ago, remaining India’s main source of oil.
“We will increase imp-orts from Africa going forward mainly from Nigeria,” oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday, ahead of New Delhi hosting a two-day hydrocarbons conference with African nations next week
Indian Oil Corp. has doubled its annual oil purchase deal with Nigeria for 2015/16 to 60,000 bpd, its chairman B. Ashok said on Friday.
India, the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer, raised its imports of African oil as the continent’s mainly light, sweet crudes helped fill increasing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel. India’s gasoline consumption rose 14.7 per cent in 2015 while diesel climbed 5.3 per cent. Falling African crude prices also spurred more interest from Indian refiners.
