Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia in August as the top oil supplier to India, data from industry and shipping sources showed, as refiners turned to Iraqi barrels to compensate for a lower intake of Iranian oil ahead of US sanctions in November.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq continued to be the two biggest oil suppliers to India last month, tanker arrival data obtained from sources showed. The sources declined to be identified, Reuters reported. Indian refiners shipped in 1.02 million barrels per day of Iraqi Basra oil in August, an increase of about 46% from the previous month, while imports from Saudi Arabia declined 5% to about 747,000 bpd during the period, the data showed.
India imported less Nigerian oil in August as the West African nation’s output was hit by outages in a couple of major streams such as Bonny Light and Tornados. Also, Asian buyers opted to take light sweet US oil rather than Nigerian. Overall, India’s monthly oil imports in August rose 3.1% to about 4.7 million barrels.
