India Looks To Stabilise Oil Supplies After Saudi Drone Attacks

India, the world’s third largest oil importer, has been worried over its oil supplies following the drone attacks on the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and a major oil field there. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who said earlier that India is keeping a close eye on the oil crisis in Saudi Arabia, called up Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Thursday and was assured that Riyadh would be meeting all of India’s oil supply commitments. The Kingdom has announced it is looking to restore production very soon.

Pradhan discussed with Abdulaziz the supply plan in the aftermath of the September 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Khurais oilfield and the Abqaiq petroleum processing facility, both owned by the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil company. The attacks wiped out as much as 5 million barrels per day of output. Saudi Arabia, the second-largest oil supplier to India, sells close to 2 million tonnes of crude every month. Of this, 1.2-1.3 million tonnes of supplies for September have already been taken and the rest too has been assured.