India seeks additional oil from Saudi Arabia during next fiscal

New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) Fearing international sanctions on Iran may curb its imports from that country, India today sought an additional 5 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia during the country's 2012-13 financial year beginning April 1. "We have sought five million tonnes of more crude oil from Saudi Arabia in 2012-13," India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh told reporters here, after a meeting with Abdul Aziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs, Saudi Arabia. India buys 27 million tonnes of crude oil per annum from Saudi Arabia while its annual import from Iran is about 17 million tonnes. "Whatever Indian oil markets will require, they will approach (Saudi) Aramco (Saudi Arabia's national oil company) and as long as they can work it out on a commercial basis, we as a government don't interfere in this commercial relationship," Abdulaziz said. The Saudi Minister said his country has a spare production capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day beyond current output of 9.8 million barrels a day. India also sought more LPG from Saudi Arabia to meet growing energy needs. "We've demonstrated to our friends that the market is well supplied. There is no need to be concerned. We have demonstrated to our friends here today how much excess capacity there is today and how much excess capacity there will be in future," Abdulaziz said. Singh said India's refining capacity is going up tremendously and "we would need a lot of additional crude and that is something we look towards Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries". "The two sides discussed the World Oil Outlook, especially the growing demand for hydrocarbons in Asia and India during the delegation level talks," an official statement said. PTI Caption for pic: India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs R.P.N. Singh (right) shaking hands with Saudi Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs Abdul Aziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz during a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI Photo