New Delhi: India’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports from the United States (US) surged to a record high in July, with the country supplying 0.91 million tonnes (mt), accounting for more than 73 per cent of total imports, according to data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler.
India has ramped up LPG imports from the US as supplies from its traditional Gulf suppliers, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia, remain constrained amid the ongoing US-Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The supply disruption has also prompted India to diversify its sourcing, with cargoes arriving from newer suppliers such as Argentina and Algeria.
Meanwhile, Russia remained India’s largest crude oil supplier in July, accounting for 55.5 per cent of the country’s total crude imports. The top five suppliers — Russia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Brazil — together contributed more than 80 per cent of India’s crude oil imports during the month.
Unlike LPG imports, India’s crude oil imports remained resilient despite supply disruptions in West Asia. The country imported around 5 million bpd of crude in July, broadly in line with pre-conflict levels, owing to diversification.
While India’s diversified sourcing strategy has helped maintain crude oil imports, higher global oil prices have increased the country’s import bill. India’s crude oil import bill rose 48 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $14.7 billion in June despite lower import volumes than a year earlier, official data showed.
The sharp rise in the import bill came as the Indian basket crude price averaged $85.47 per barrel in June, up from $69.77 a barrel a year earlier. Crude remains India’s largest import item, accounting for around 20 per cent of the country’s merchandise import bill.
