Iraq becomes India’s top crude oil supplier in 2018-19 fiscal year

For the second year in a row, Iraq has become India’s top crude oil supplier in 2018-19 fiscal year and meet more than a fifth of the country’s oil needs. According to official data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Iraq sold 46.61 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil to India during April 2018 and March 2019, which is 2% more than 45.74 mt it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal. Saudi Arabia also maintained its position as the 2nd-largest crude supplier to India during the year followed by Iran and United Arab Emirates (UAE) which toppled Venezuela to become India’s fourth largest crude supplier. Despite US sanctions on Iran, the country’s crude oil supply to India increased 6.24% to 24 MT in 2018-19. India managed to import a sizeable amount of Iranian crude last year primarily due to waivers and winding down period provided by US.