India has reduced crude oil imports from its top supplier Saudi Arabia by over 8% in 2014-15 as it raised purchases from Africa and Latin America in an apparent bid to cut reliance on volatile Middle-East. Crude oil import from Saudia Arabia was cut to 34.99 million tones (MT) in 2014-15 from 38.18 MT in 2013-14.
While imports from sanction hit Iran were almost flat at 10.95 MT, shipments from Kuwait fell to 17.85 MT from 20.35 MT. Imports from Iraq were almost flat at 24.51 MT but the same from UAE rose 15% to 16.11 MT. Overall, imports from Middle East fell by over 5% to 109.88 MT.
India imported 189.44 MT of crude oil in 2014-15, almost unchanged from the previous fiscal, to meet over 80% of its oil needs.