New Delhi: Russia remained the largest source of crude oil for India in April, supplying 1.6 million barrels per day (mbd), followed by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Venezuela and Qatar, data from shipment-tracking firm Kpler showed.India imported about 4.4 mbd of crude in April, slightly down from March (4.5 mbd) and 85% of February’s shipments (5.2 mbd), amid the ongoing disruption in supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Supplies from Russia fell 20% to about 2 mbd in March, the most since May last year. While Saudi Arabia (685,000 barrels per day) and the United Arab Emirates (575,000 barrels per day) increased supplies, India resumed imports from Iran and Venezuela to bridge the gap caused by disruptions from other West Asian countries.

No shipments came from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar or the Saudi-Kuwait Neutral Zone in April, despite Iraq typically being one of India’s top crude oil suppliers.While shipments from Saudi Arabia came through the East-West Crude Pipeline, the UAE sent consignments to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman through the ADCOP pipeline. Supplies from other Gulf producers remain largely dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. ‘The situation of LPG import in India will remain difficult in the near future’ For the first time since March 2019, Indian refiners bought about 1.3 lakh barrels of oil per day from Iran in April, after the US eased sanctions for a month to help ease global crude prices. They also secured nearly 2.9 lakh barrels per day from Venezuela after a gap of 11 months.LPG imports fell to less than 1 million tonnes (MT) in April, down from 2-2.2 MT during the pre-crisis months. The data showed India received about 9.5 lakh tonnes of primary cooking fuel in April, down about 16% from the March shipment, which was estimated at a little over 1.1 MT. The supply gap was bridged by a 30% increase in domestic LPG production. With no solution to the global energy crisis in sight, experts believe imports are likely to remain affected in the near future.“Therefore, India may face a reduction in LPG import availability in the near future. The situation remains sensitive as import availability is being constrained due to supply disruptions in the Middle East, India’s key sourcing region,” said Sumit Ritolia, principal analyst at Kpler. Diversification of supplies from non-Gulf countries including the US, Australia, Canada, Norway and Russia helped India secure 1.9 million tonnes of natural gas in April, up from 1.6 metric tonnes in March.