India Asks Refiners to Cut Reliance on Middle East Oil after OPEC+ Decision

Nidhi Verma
Tuesday, March 9, 2021

India has asked state refiners to speed up the diversification of oil imports to gradually cut their dependence on the Middle East after OPEC+ decided last week to largely continue production cuts in April, two sources said.

India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, imports about 84% of its overall crude needs with over 60% of that coming from Middle Eastern countries, which are typically cheaper than those from the West.

Most of the OPEC+ producers, led by world's top exporter Saudi Arabia, last week decided to extend most output curbs into April.

India, hit hard by the soaring oil prices, has urged producers to ease output cuts and help the global economic recovery. In response, the Saudi energy minister told India to dip into strategic reserves filled with cheaper oil bought last year.

"We have asked companies to aggressively look for diversification. We cannot be held hostage to the arbitrary decision of Middle East producers. When they wanted to stabilize the market we stood by them," said a government source.

India had not cancelled any shipment of crude oil from the Middle East in 2020 when oil demand collapsed due to COVID-19, the source said. Already OPEC's share in India's oil imports declined to a historic lows during April 2020-January 2021, the first ten months of this fiscal year.

While initial costs could be high, the strategy will pay off in the long term, the source said.

Two oil refiners confirmed that the government had asked them to expedite efforts to diversify crude import sources.

One plan is to import oil from new producer Guyana, the sources said. The country's top refiner Indian Oil Corp has also renewed its oil import contract with Russia, they added. India hopes to resume Iranian oil imports this year.

India's oil ministry and IOC did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia are the two biggest oil suppliers to India. This year, Iraq has cut annual supply volumes while Kuwait has shortened the duration of contracts with Indian buyers to 9 months.

After OPEC's last week decision, crude oil prices rose to over $71 per barrel although the prices eased to $69.08 a barrel by 1027 GMT. Saudi has also raised April official selling price of its oil for Asia.

"A beginning has to be made. No one had imagined that U.S. oil will account for a significant share in our crude basket. We are trying for shorter-term contracts with new countries and sellers," the first source said.

"The world was together during the pandemic but now it seems some producers are working for their own economies," said the first source.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by David Evans)

Categories: Asia

Related Stories

CNOOC Brings New Offshore Gas Field On Stream

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

SBM Offshore’s Jaguar FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore (Video)

CNOOC Finds Oil and Gas in South China Sea

Valeura Makes Progress with Multi-Well Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

Yinson Production Secures $1.17B Refinancing for FPSO Maria Quitéria

Centrica and Thailand’s PTT Ink Long-Term LNG Supply Deal

Japan Protests China’s New Oil and Gas Construction Activities in East China Sea

CNOOC Signs Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production Deal with Kazakhstan

Petronas Expands Suriname Portfolio with Deepwater Block Acquisition

Current News

Allseas-Boskalis Consortium Bags $1.4B Offshore Gas Pipeline Job in Taiwan

CNOOC Brings New Offshore Gas Field On Stream

Yinson, PTSC Get $600M Contract for Vietnam-Bound FSO

PTTEP Buys Chevron's Hess Unit Share of Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block for $450M

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

China Rolls Out 17MW Floating Wind Turbine Prototype

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com