India’s oil imports from US, Canada surge

According to the industry insiders, India imported about 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd) oil in January, registering a decline of 6% from the previous month but marginally rising from the year earlier. During this month, its oil imports from Canada and the United rose to a record 11%, almost doubling from December to 142,000 bpd and 367,000 bpd, respectively. At the same time, its oil imports from the Middle East dipped to an eight-month low of about 61%. Its share of oil imports from South America declined to a six-month low of about 6.4%.
“Demand for gasoline in India recovered at a faster pace than other products and North American grades are gasoline-rich,” stated Ehsan Ul-Haq, lead analyst for Oil Research and Forecasts at Refinitiv, adding that most Middle Eastern grades were distillate-rich. “Crude from America was cheap compared to other producing regions in November while Canadian oil is sold at a deeper discount to Brent,” he added.