Nigeria overtakes US as India’s fourth biggest oil supplier

Nigeria emerged as the fourth biggest supplier of crude oil to India in December, pushing the United States down to the sixth position just after Brazil.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that India’s crude oil imports in December soared to the highest levels in nearly three years to more than five million barrels per day as its refiners cranked up output to meet a rebound in fuel demand, data from trade sources showed.

India’s year-end rush for crude supplies coincided with stronger demand from north Asian buyers during winter, boosting prices and an accelerating de-stocking of floating storage globally.

December oil imports by India, the world’s third biggest crude importer and consumer, were about 29 per cent more than the previous month and about 11.6 per cent higher than a year earlier, the data showed, after fuel consumption rose for a fourth straight month to an 11-month high in December.