India’s fuel demand rose 16.3% in August compared to the same month last year, Reuters quoted data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the Ministry of Oil on Wednesday, as it showed that total fuel consumption, an indicator of demand, amounted to 17.81 million tons.
Gasoline sales in the world’s third largest importer and consumer of oil rose 11.6% year-on-year in August to 3 million tons.
India is seeking to forge economic and investment partnerships with countries in the Middle East, which source more than half of New Delhi’s oil needs, and the region will remain a major supplier to it for a long time, according to Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in an interview with “Al-Sharq”.
The minister said, “Cooperation with Middle Eastern countries in the foreseeable future will become stronger. We are currently studying extending a long-term contract with Qatar to purchase gas that ends in 2028. We are also discussing with the UAE the conclusion of more investment partnerships, and with Saudi Aramco we are discussing several projects, including They have a large refining facility in India to meet local requirements.”
Of the 5 million barrels of oil New Delhi needs, 3 million come from the Middle East. India gets between 800,000 to 1 million bpd from Saudi Arabia, one million barrels from Iraq, and almost the same amount from the UAE.