India to tap Africa for more crude, imports seen up

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will import about 38 percent more crude oil from Africa within three years to feed growing domestic demand and fuel its development as an export hub, the petroleum secretary said.

Asia's third-largest oil consumer is set to import 4.5 percent more crude overall in the current financial year to end-March 2008, M.S. Srinivasan said late on Wednesday.

"Sixteen percent of our crude imports, around 18 million tonnes, are imported from Africa. As requirement increases, imports will go up," Srinivasan said.

"In the next two to three years, our imports from African countries are expected to be 20-21 percent, around 24-25 million tonnes."

Most of the crude would continue to come from Nigeria, but India also buys from Angola and Libya.

He said overall imports of crude will rise slightly next year.

"Last year, we imported 110 million tonnes, this year (2007/08) it is going to be around 115 million tonnes."

"We are trying to diversify our crude basket. We have been importing crude from well over 30 countries," he said.

India imports about 70 percent of its crude needs and is adding export-oriented refining capacity, while Africa is fast emerging as an energy hotspot.

India plans to expand its refining capacity by 62 percent to 4.82 million bpd by 2012, to take advantage of its proximity to oil sources and emerging markets.

However, that does not include Essar's expansion plans and some of the other new refineries announced recently by state-run firms.