Data from Refinitiv showed 57 million tonnes of crude oil imported by India by sea in Q1 2020. Compared to 53.2 million tonnes imported in Q1 2019, the amount represents an increase of 7.2 percent y-o-y.
On a single-month basis, January showed a 5.6 percent y-o-y increase to 18.57 million tonnes. February showed a 10 percent increase y-o-y to 18.64 million tonnes and March recorded 6.1 percent increase y-o-y to a record 19.84 million tonnes.
From January to March 2020, imports of crude from Iraq increased by 17.3 percent y-o-y to 13.9 million tonnes. Shipments from the UAE surged by 35.6 percent y-o-y to 6.9 million tonnes.
On the other hand, imports from Saudi Arabia surprisingly declined to 9.9 million tonnes. Imports from Iran went down to zero. Shipments from West Africa went down to 5.5 million tonnes. Shipments from South America went up by 16.8 percent y-o-y to 5.0 million tonnes. This included 3.9 million tonnes from Venezuela and one million tonnes from Brazil.
From January to March 2020, imports to India from the USA surged again by 72 percent y-o-y to 2.7 million tonnes. Russia’s exports to India boosted to 2.3 million tonnes. Last year, India’s total seaborne imports of crude oil reached 212.4 million tonnes.
