United States overtook Saudi Arabia as India‘s second-biggest oil supplier after Iraq last month, as refiners boosted cheaper U.S. crude purchases to record levels to offset OPEC+ supply cuts.
Import history of the nation
India switched its suppliers after Saudi Arabia voluntaries an extra 1 million barrel per day output cut, while the US slashed its crude oil prices. Data reveals imports from the US have risen by 48% in the month of February. In contrast, February imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 42% from January to a decade low of 445,200 BPD. Saudi Arabia is lost its Indian trade and slipped to No.4 world rank since January 2006. India shipped in 3.92 million BPD of oil in February, a decline of 18% from January, the data showed.
Also Read: U.S. Emerges as India’s Second Biggest Oil Supplier; Leaves Saudi Arabia “Behind”
The export charts
It is reported that Iraq continued to be the top oil seller to India despite a 23% drop in purchases to a five-month low of 867,500 BPD. While UAE slipped to fifth position from third in January, Nigeria rose to third from fifth, exporting 472,300 BPD, the most since Oct 2019.
TPT Policy Advocacy & Recommendations
- The fuel price in India has undergone a significant hike over the last multiple years. Long-term fuel inflation has been high, but reasonably stable. However, biggest threat to deviations from past inflation seems to be factors like the trade war, geopolitical tensions, and willingness of oil-producing countries to charge a higher price.
- Further, the price of petrol and diesel can be controlled if a price controlling mechanism is adopted. The government (both central and state) should subjugate this. The OMCs should witness some of the price burdens that the ultimate consumers have to bear in our nation. Lastly, the consumption of petrol and diesel in India in terms of US Dollar is even higher than the GDPs of many small nations across the globe. And that’s why the governmentneeds to consider the petrol and diesel price hike seriously.
