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Iraq maintains top position as Indias crude oil supplier in 2018-2019

New Delhi: Iraq maintained its position as the largest crude oil supplier to India in 2018-2019, supplying more than 46.61 Million Tonne (MT) of crude oil last financial year ended March 2019, official data sourced from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) showed.

Iraq’s crude oil exports to India rose 2 per cent in the year.

Crude oil supply by Saudi Arabia, the de-factor leader of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to India increased 12 per cent to 40.33 MT last fiscal. Saudi Arabia also maintained its position as the second-largest crude supplier to India during the year followed by Iran and United Arab Emirates (UAE) which toppled Venezuela to become India's fourth largest crude supplier. 

Despite US sanctions on Iran, the country’s crude oil supply to India increased 6.24 per cent to 24 MT in 2018-19. India managed to import a sizeable amount of Iranian crude last year primarily due to waivers and winding down period provided by US.

The Trump administration last week declared that it will not provide any extension of the waivers granted last year in November and expects all Iranian crude oil customers including India to stop importing Iranian crude from 3 May.

Credit rating agency ICRA in a report last week highlighted that discontinuation of Iranian crude oil imports may negatively impact the operating profits of Indian refiners by over Rs 2,500 crore annually.

An executive at a leading Oil Marketing Company (OMC) told ETEnergyWorld the company had prepared for such an eventuality and it has made elaborate alternative arrangements to deal with the reduced supply.

“However, if Iranian crude goes out completely from the market then it will be a tough call not just for India but globally. We now expect global crude prices to come under pressure because of this,” he said, adding that continuation of payments using Rupee will not be feasible for the company.

India’s crude oil imports from UAE, jumped 22 per cent to 17.49 MT in 2018-2019, as compared to 14.29 MT imported in the 2017-2018. India’s imports from sanction-hit Venezuela dropped 5.56 per cent to 17.32 MT last fiscal as compared to 18.34 MT imported in the previous year.