India has reduced it’s Oil imports from Iran to less than 6% and at the same time is tapping new markets like Columbia and Mexico to fulfill it’s energy needs. The move is part of a gradual process, as sanctions from the United States and other Western nations blocked payment channels and made it difficult to transact with the oil-rich nation . India imported 21.20 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in 2009-10, which reduced to 18.50 million tonnes in 2010-11 and 18.11 million tonnes in 2011-12.
India imported 11 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, down from 13.14 million tonnes in the previous fiscal. The imports from Iran made up for 5.81 per cent of the nation’s oil import needs in 2013-14 fiscal, down from 7.11 per cent in the previous year. Iran used to be the second largest oil supplier to India, behind Saudi Arabia until 2010-11, however, has now shifted back to the 6th in the list. India currently imports oil from over 35 countries with Saudi Arabia topping the list of suppliers, followed by Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria and the UAE in that order. Our dependency on Oil from other nations results in a huge trade deficit, where our imports are more than our exports, which adversely affects the economy. So the next time you take your vehicle out, when you could’ve walked that distance, think about the larger picture.
Source: ET
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