India to buy 36 per cent less oil from Saudi Arabia

The government has decided to reduce oil imports from Saudi Arabia by a whopping 36 per cent in May, news agency Reuters reported quoting sources. The decision comes even after the Kingdom supported the idea of boosting output from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and allied producers last week.

Relations between the two nations have soured in the past few months as domestic prices of fuel spiked following repeated output cuts by the Saudis and other oil producers, thereby putting an upward pressure on crude prices.

When Opec and its allies, known as Opec+ extended the production cuts into April, the Centre asked state-run refiners to cut imports from the Kingdom by about a quarter in May.

However, on April 1, Opec+ agreed to gradually ease their oil output cuts from May, after the new US administration called on Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the group, to keep energy affordable for consumers.

Crude oil suppliers to India

In February, the United States accounted for 14 per cent of India’s crude oil imports.