07-08-08 India's crude oil imports from the volatile Middle East region increased 11 % to 89.73 mm tons in 2007-08 with Saudi Arabia being the single largest supplier to Asia's third largest oil consumer.
Of the 121.67 mm tons of crude oil imported in 2007-08, 73.74 % came from the Middle East region, according to data available from the Petroleum Ministry. Of the total import of 111.5 mm tons in 2006-07, the region sold 80.81 mm tons of oil.

Saudi Arabia shipped 26.98 mm tons of oil to India in 2007-08, up 9.58 % from the previous year's 24.62 mm tons. India spent Rs 272,699 crore or $ 67.988 bn on its crude imports in 2007-08, up from Rs 219,029 crore or $ 48.389 bn in the previous year.
Iran was the second biggest supplier with 19.48 mm tons and Iraq gave 14.29 mm tons in 2007-08. Imports from Iran swelled from 14.7 mm tons in the previous year.

Outside the Middle East region, Nigeria was the biggest exporter at 9.91 mm tons, though the volumes from the African nation were down from 13.06 mm tons in 2006-07. Angola followed Nigeria with oil exports to India almost doubling in 2007-08 to 4.33 mm tons.
Kuwait's oil supplies to India declined to 10.3 mm tons in fiscal 2008, down by 10.48 % from the previous year's 11.38 mm tons. India's oil import from the United Arab Emirates in fiscal 2008 stood at 10.86 mm tons, up 24.11 % from 8.75 mm tons in the year-ago period.