Iraq remains top oil producer for India while Iran replaces Saudi for second spot

New Delhi, July 24: In the first three months of current fiscal year i.e from April to June this year, Iraq continued to be the top oil supplier while Iran emerged as the second-biggest oil supplier to Indian state refiners. This was said by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday in Lok Sabha.

 

In a written reply, Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that Indian companies took full advantage of discounts offered by Iran and hence resulted in the oil-rich country to become the biggest oil supplier to India after Saudi Arabia during the first three months of the current fiscal year.

Dharmendra Pradhan said that India received about 457,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran during April to June this year. However, the minister He did not provide comparable numbers from the year-ago period.

“The Indian refiners including Indian Oil Corp, Chennai Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum and its unit Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals shipped in 9.8 million tonnes of Iranian oil in the year 2017/18,” Pradhan added.

The Minister further added that Iraq continued to be the top oil supplier to India in the April-June period. New Delhi shipped in 7.27 million tonnes of oil from Iraq, while shipments from Saudi Arabia totalled 5.22 million tonnes, making it the third largest supplier.