India’s crude oil imports in February fell 16.4% year on year to 13.69 million mt, or an average 3.58 million b/d, according to shipping data obtained by Platts. Imports in February were down 21% from January.

Saudi Arabia was India’s top crude oil supplier in the month, but the volumes supplied fell 16.3% year on year to 2.95 million mt (772,366 b/d), the data showed.

Imports from Iran plunged 62.3% year on year to 382,242 mt (100,065 b/d). The drop in Iranian crude imports followed a government directive sent to refiners in January.

New Delhi told refiners to stop importing Iranian crude at least until mid-February, as the country was preparing to welcome US President Barack Obama as a special guest for the Republic Day celebrations held on January 26.

Imports from Iraq and Angola also suffered double-digit drops year on year. In contrast, imports from second-largest supplier Venezuela, Nigeria and the UAE saw double-digit growth. In the first two months of 2015, India imported a total 30.94 million mt of crude oil, down 1.25% year on year.

Saudi supplies fell 12.55% year on year to 6.14 million mt over January-February, while Iranian supplies fell 41% year on year to 1.54 million mt. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, a division of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, released official crude import data for February last week.

The PPAC data, which is based on inputs from refiners and does not include crude imports by source, showed India’s crude oil imports for February fell 21.3% year on year to 12.99 million mt.

Source:hellenicshippingnews.com