India’s June Crude Oil Imports Decrease to Higher Than Two-Year Low

India’s June crude oil imports dropped 13.4% from a year more advanced to their lowest since February 2017, government data confirmed on Tuesday.

Crude imports into the world’s third-giant oil importer fell to 16.87 million tonnes, which was also a more than 10% drop from May’s 18.87 million tonnes.

June’s decline came among the loss of Iranian oil supplies as Washington tightened sanctions on Tehran.

In April, Trump administration had said it might not renew exemptions granted final year to consumers of Iranian oil. India through Might was Iran’s second-largest oil customer after China.

Meanwhile, imports of oil products surged by about 20.4% from a year earlier, whereas year-on-year exports slipped 11.4% last month, the info confirmed.

Diesel exports climbed almost 6% to 2.22 million tonnes on June month-on-month, although they have been down 9.4% from a year earlier, resulting from weaker demand in the domestic sector because of the monsoon season.

Monsoon rains typically reduce the necessity for diesel used in irrigation pumps, which generally ramps up exports of the fuel.

India’s robust diesel demand growth is prone to decouple from the automobile market as motorists more and more flip to gasoline vehicles, leaving it extra reliant on patchy demand from construction and heavy industry.