India`s reliance on Middle East oil imports shrunk in June to the smallest since October 2015 as the world`s third-biggest importer tapped other sources amid OPEC supply cuts, ship tracking data from industry sources and data available on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.

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India`s imports of Middle Eastern crude oil shrunk in June to the smallest since October 2015 as the world`s third-biggest importer tapped other sources amid OPEC supply cuts, ship tracking data available with Reuters showed.

Middle East imports fell 7.6 percent in June from the previous month, partly driven by declines from Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia as the production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made more of a dent in supply.

The cuts also drove up Middle East crude prices, prompting price-sensitive Indian buyers to seek substitutes from Russia and Latin America as the world remains awash with oil.

Gulf crude accounted for about 58.5 percent of India`s imports compared with about 66 percent in May, while the share of oil from Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia, including Russia, rose, according to ship tracking data obtained from sources and data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research