India Takes Crown as Third Largest Oil Importer on the Planet  

India is famous for its sky-high population count and now, the country has also taken the crown as one of the biggest oil importers in the world. After the US and China, the vast South Asian country is now the third largest importer of crude oil, with figures steadily growing hand-in-hand with its flourishing population and national economy.

Could Japan knocked out of the top three for good?

Over the past few years India has pushed Japan out of the top three several times. While they’ve periodically shared third place, the long-term outlook indicates that India will stay on top. The nation’s dependence on oil is rapidly increasing, with the International Energy Agency predicting that in the second quarter of 2015 India will burn 4.1 million barrels per day. This far surpasses Japan’s average of 3.8 million barrels per day. Furthermore, when Japan’s nuclear power generation fleet is up and running again the nation will no longer need to consume anywhere near as much crude as it’s currently guzzling.

Could India soon surpass China?

For decades China has been the major driver of global oil markets. Yet in the wake of slowing GDP growth rates the republic’s demand for crude has significantly eased. In a matter of years this could see India overtake China’s consumption levels which would lead to exporters refocussing operations.

Opportunities for the Middle East

Middle Eastern oil exporters would stand to benefit immensely. Countries such as Iran have increased daily oil production by 90,000 barrels per day over the past few months, purely because India’s thirst for oil is insatiable. Saudi Arabia would also stand to prosper, with industry insiders revealing that the desert nation is currently toying with the idea of its own tanker fleet that would slash operational costs. It could then supply India with oil at 25 to 30 cents less per barrel than other countries. As well as its desire to retain its large oil market share the venture also reflects confidence in the fact that India will remain a seriously lucrative oil importer in the future. Already Saudi Arabia exports around 795,000 barrels per day to India, which represents a 4.6% jump from last year’s figures. The country’s executive director for marketing paid visit to New Delhi earlier month, supposedly to discuss the future of the country’s oil relationship with India.

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