India to buy more crude oil from Africa - Mr Pradhan
Published on Thu, 04 Feb 2016
Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, Oil Minister, said that India plans to increase crude oil imports from Africa as part of its efforts to diversify sourcing of energy and reducing dependence on the Middle East.
Mr Pradhan said that "We imported 32 million tonnes of crude in 2014 from Africa, including 3 million tonnes from North Africa and 29 million tonnes from West Africa, mainly from Nigeria and Angola. This constitutes approximately 16 per cent of our consumption. This is going to increase in the coming years."
Traditionally, the country imports nearly 80 per cent of its oil needs, of which nearly two-third is being supplied by Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.
During April-September this fiscal, the country imported 99.36 million tonnes of crude oil, of which 57 per cent was from the Middle East region.
Meanwhile, the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation said that it has nearly doubled the crude oil it buys from Nigeria on a term or fixed contract as it looks to diversify sources of supplies.
Source : Exim News Service