ABUJA: India’s crude oil imports in May reportedly rose to see supply from Nigeria surge by nearly 200 per cent, making Nigeria the largest crude oil supplier to India for the month with 745,000 barrels per day (b/d) exported to India.
Information gleaned in Abuja from sources and compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Analytics showed that as many refiners returned from planned maintenance, tanker arrival data showed that Nigeria in the month of May replaced Saudi Arabia as the top crude oil supplier to India, up from number three a year ago.
The data disclosed that Saudi Arabia slipped to second position after Nigeria and was followed by Iraq, then Venezuela which retained the fourth slot while Iran slipped to fifth position from seventh a year ago.
It also showed that India, which is Iran’s biggest oil client after China, lifted an annual 66 per cent more oil from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member countries in May. New Delhi, according to the data, shipped in 4.34 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in May, an increase of about 18.1 per cent from the previous month, the data showed
