Iran Becomes India’s 5th Top Oil Supplier

The latest market data show that Iran has replaced Kuwait as the fifth largest oil supplier to India, according to Press T.V.

“Iran has toppled Kuwait to become India’s fifth largest crude oil supplier in the first half of 2015-16 fiscal year, selling over 6.5 million tons of oil to the country,” said India’s Economic Times newspaper in a report on Wednesday.

 “Iran, which was India’s second biggest supplier of crude oil till 2010-11, sold 6.53 million tons of oil to India in April-September as compared to 5.31 million tons crude coming from Kuwait,” the newspaper quoted official sources as saying.

Stressing that “India is 80 percent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs,” the paper said that “with prospects of sanctions being eased after a deal with the Western powers on its nuclear program, Iran is now behind only Saudi Arabia (19.56 million tons), Iraq (17.01 million tons), Nigeria (11.59 million tons) and Venezuela (10.89 million tons) in oil supplies to India.”

Iran supplied 10.9 million tons of oil to India in 2014-15 fiscal year, almost the same as 11 million tons it sold in 2013-14, the report said.

Iran had in 2009-10 supplied 21.2 million tons to India which came down to 18.5 million tons in 2010-11 and to 18.1 million tons in the year after, it added.

“After the west imposed sanctions, India brought down the purchases to 13.14 million tons in 2012-13 and had limited them in the years thereafter,” IRNA quoted Economic Times as saying in its report.

The Economic Time went on to quote sources as saying that “India imported 99.36 million tons of crude oil in April-September this fiscal year, 57 percent of which came from the Middle East region.” 

R.S