India May Receive 12 Million Barrels Of Crude Oil From Venezuelan In April Amid Energy Crisis

Venezuela is set to join the expanding list of India’s crude oil suppliers amid the ongoing energy crisis due to the United States-Israel-Iran war in the Gulf region.

India is expected to receive about 10–12 million barrels of crude oil from Venezuela in April, according to a report by Moneycontrol.

This would be the first time in about a year that India would be buying Venezuelan oil. Indian refiners had shied away from Venezuelan oil since the United States imposed sanctions on the South American country in 2019.

According to commodity analytics firm Kpler, the deal for Venezuelan cargoes was likely signed before the war broke out in West Asia in late February.

Venezuela used to be one of the major suppliers of crude to India before sanctions. It contributed about 6.7 percent to India’s total crude oil imports in FY18.

According to Kpler data, Venezuelan crude imports averaged 1.9 million barrels before American sanctions put a stop to them.

“April-arriving cargoes were likely secured well before the recent disruptions, underscoring a longer-term strategic shift rather than a purely reactive move,” the report cited Sumit Ritolia, Kpler’s lead research analyst for refining & modelling, as saying.

“This trend highlights the growing importance of proactive diversification in global energy markets. Securing an alternative supply in advance is increasingly seen as a competitive advantage,” Ritolia added.

Some of the cargoes are expected to arrive for discharge at Cochin port, which also has Bharat Petroleum Corporation’s (BPCL) refinery.

BPCL has earlier stated that it was open to buying oil from diverse sources, which also included Venezuela.

Since the start of the war in West Asia, the supply of crude oil has fallen drastically as the warring sides attacked each other’s energy assets in the region.

Moreover, the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz has been restricted by Iran since the war, which has only exacerbated the energy crisis.

Import-dependent countries like India have since been looking to diversify their sources of crude to reduce dependence on war-hit countries.