<article><p class="lead">India's dependence on Middle East crude increased in April-May compared to the same period last year, oil ministry data show.</p><p>Middle East suppliers accounted for 61.5pc of India's total crude imports in the two-month period, up from 56.8pc in April-May 2020.</p><p>India's total crude imports averaged 4.27mn b/d in April-May, the first two months of the country's financial year, up by 14pc from 3.80mn b/d a year earlier.</p><p>The increased Middle East dependence came despite Saudi Arabia's state-controlled Saudi Aramco <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2193765">lifting official formula prices for all its April</a> and <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2202068">May-loading crude exports to Asia-Pacific</a> this year.</p><p>Crude from North and South America accounted for 17.2pc of India's total imports in April and May, down from 24.2pc in the year-earlier period. The share of African crude increased to 15.9pc from 12.7pc.</p><p>The data also showed that imported crude processed by state-controlled refiners made up 85.7pc of total throughputs in April-May, a 6.8 percentage point increase from the same period last year.</p><p>The share of imported crude processed by private-sectors refiners rose by 0.5 percentage points to 94.9pc.</p><p class="bylines">By Sathya Narayanan</p></article>
