India's oil imports hit record high in January on Red Sea delays

NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (Reuters): India's crude oil imports rose to a monthly record in January after the Red Sea shipping crisis delayed the December arrival of cargoes from the Americas, data from trade sources showed.
The world's third largest oil importer and consumer also received in January its first cargo of Venezuelan oil after a gap of more than three years, as the US eased sanctions on the South American producer, the data showed.
India's oil imports hit 5.24 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, up 17 per cent from December and 3.5 per cent higher than in the corresponding month a year earlier, according to the data.
The previous monthly high in India's imports was 5.1 million bpd in Jan 2018, the data showed.
The trade estimates are higher than Thursday's preliminary data from the oil ministry showing India's January oil imports at a 21-month high of 21.39 million metric tons (5.1 million bpd).
"Some US and Latin American oil cargoes were delayed as they had been diverted to an alternative route around the Cape of Good Hope after the Red Sea crisis and those cargoes landed in late December or January," said LSEG analyst Ehsan Ul Haq.
An official with one Indian refiner confirmed that some cargoes it was scheduled to receive in December had been delayed until January.
Even though long-haul crude cargoes, mainly from the Americas, are purchased on a delivered basis, Indian buyers had to pay extra charges as sellers invoked a force majeure clause after freight and insurance costs jumped due to the Red Sea troubles, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
India's Russian oil imports in January rebounded from December to 1.47 million bpd, posting growth of 10.8 per cent but Russia's share of the total declined to 28 per cent from 30 per cent, while Latin America's share rose to about 8 per cent from 6 per cent, the data showed.