India’s crude oil, LNG imports surge in May although bill continues to stay elevated

In the third full month (May) of the West Asia crisis this year, India’s imports of crude oil surged nearly 7.5% from April, whilst that of liquified natural gas (LNG) increased about 16%. However, the country’s import bill for crude oil surged 14.7% and that of LNG more than 22% during the same period, indicating a perusal of latest and previously-available comparative provisional data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).

When assessed from the comparable period last year, India’s crude imports surged 1.41% to 21.6 million metric tons (MMT) in May this year.

However, amidst the crisis, India’s importers had to pay $18.7 billion during the reported period which is approximately 81.6% higher than it did in the comparable period last year at $10.3 billion.

In April this year, India had imported 20.1 MMT of crude oil spending $16.3 billion. It spent $0.9 billion to import 1,954 MMSCMD of LNG in April.

The country’s import bill for LNG in May stayed flat from the same month last year at $1.1 billion although imports slid 21% during the mentioned period to 2,266 million metric standard cubic metre per day (MMSCMD).