New Delhi: US oil supplies to India have jumped 10-fold to 2,50,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the last two years in signs of growing energy ties between the two nations.
Speaking at a business meeting here alongside US President Donald Trump, US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said India imported 25,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the United States in 2017.
“In the last two years, we have seen a remarkable offtake in the US oil and gas by India, from 25,000 bpd in 2017 to 250,000 bpd at present, a 10-fold increase and we expect it to be better from here,” said Brouillette.
Trump remarked that energy trade is ‘going up very very rapidly’. “Thank you very much Dan. Really great job,” Trump said.
The US is India’s sixth-largest oil supplier.
India began importing crude oil from the US in 2017 as it looked to diversify its import basket beyond the OPEC nations. It bought 1.9 million tonne (38,000 bpd) of crude oil from the US in 2017-18 and another 6.2 million tonne (1,24,000 bpd) in 2018-19. In the first six months of the current fiscal (2019-20) the US has supplied 5.4 million tonne (MT) of crude oil to India.
Speaking at a separate Indo-US business summit, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the US emerging as the sixth largest source for crude oil imports for India is a significant development.
Pradhan, who met Monday the US Energy Secretary, said India’s bilateral hydrocarbon trade has increased exponentially during the last three years and it touched USD 7.7 billion mark last year, accounting for 11 per cent of total two-way trade.
“These developments are reflective of a new and emerging dynamic between the two countries,” he said. “Both Secretary Dan Brouillette and I have agreed that there is a need now to develop industry-level engagements for technology infusions as well as investment partnerships in the energy sector,” added the minister.
Iraq is India’s top crude oil supplier, meeting close to one-fourth of the country’s oil needs. It sold 26 million tonne of crude oil to India during April to September in 2019.
India, which is 83 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs, bought 111.4 million tonnes of crude oil from overseas in the same period.
Saudi Arabia has traditionally been India’s top oil source but has been relegated to the second spot, exporting 20.7 million tonnes of crude oil in the first six months.
PTI