Amidst increasing tension in the Middle East and threat on the Strait of Hormuz, India is now looking for new alternatives to oil. In this effort, South American country Venezuela has emerged as a big support for India. Venezuela, with a population of about three and a quarter crore, has now become India’s third largest crude oil supplier. It has also left countries like Saudi Arabia and America behind.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Venezuela’s interim President Delsey Rodriguez will visit India next week. During this, there will be discussions on oil supply and energy cooperation between the two countries. Rubio described India as a strong partner of America and said that America is ready to sell as much energy to India as per its need.
How much oil did India buy from Venezuela in May?
Venezuela is among the countries with the largest oil reserves in the world. India buys most of the oil it needs from abroad. In such a situation, India no longer wants to depend on any one country and is increasing oil purchases from different countries.
According to Kpler, an energy data providing company, till 20th of May, Venezuela has sent about 4.17 lakh barrels of crude oil to India every day. In April this figure was 2.83 lakh barrels per day. Before this, India had not purchased oil from Venezuela for nine consecutive months. The supply resumed after America relaxed some restrictions.
Russia and UAE at second place
Many refinery companies including India’s Reliance Industries are buying more cheap and heavy grade oil from Venezuela. India’s total oil imports have increased by 8% in May to reach 49 lakh barrels per day. In May, India got maximum oil from Russia. About 19.83 lakh barrels of oil per day came from Russia. After this UAE remained at second place. Venezuela reached third place. At the same time, oil supply from Saudi Arabia decreased to 3.40 lakh barrels per day.
India has also purchased oil from Angola and America. Earlier, India also used to buy large quantities of oil from Iran. But during the first term of US President Donald Trump, America had warned of imposing sanctions on countries buying oil from Iran. After this, India reduced oil purchases from Iran.
India is searching for new alternatives to oil
India is now making agreements with many countries to secure oil supply. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited UAE. Many agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Under the agreement between ADNOC and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited, UAE’s share in India’s oil reserves will increase by 30 million barrels. Work will also be done on creating gas reserves in India. LPG supply agreement has also been signed between IOCL and ADNOC. India is now trying to make its oil supply more secure and balanced through alternative sources.
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