By IANS,
New Delhi : Saudi Arabia remained the largest supplier of crude oil to India while the share of African countries rose significantly from 32.91 million tonnes in 2009-10 to 34.12 million tonnes the next year, according to the oil ministry.
Even as Iran continued to remain the second largest supplier of this basic hydrocarbon, the supplies dropped from 21.19 million tonnes to 18.49 million tonnes during the years under review, Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said Tuesday.
“India’s oil refineries importing crude oil from Iran had faced problem in making payment to the National Iran Oil Company (NIOC), after the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism was withdrawn by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in December 2010,” he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
“However, recently as a result of government’s efforts, a payment channel has been established and Indian refineries are making payments to NIOC,” the minister added.
Among the other countries, Iraq was the third largest supplier of crude oil with 17.15 million tonnes in the last fiscal, followed by Nigeria with 15.81 million tonnes, UAE with 14.70 million tonnes and Venezuela with 10.28 million tonnes.