new delhi feb 17 reuters  indias imports of oil from iraq surged in january to a 29month high of about 13 million barrels per day bpd making up nearly a third of the supplies to asias third largest economy data from shipping and industry sources show iraqs importance as a key supplier is set to grow this year as at least two indian refiners have increased their annual oil import deals with the second biggest opec producer read more india imported 46 million bpd of oil in january a decline of about 1 from the previous month and about 3 from the year earlier data compiled by reuters showed imports from iraq were the highest since aug 2019 to read accompanying table please click on read more from april 2021 through january 2022 the first 10 months of this fiscal year india the worlds third biggest oil importer and consumer shipped in 42 million bpd of oil up 65 from a year ago as refiners raised runs to meet rising fuel demand indias oil imports in february and march could rise as state refiners which make up 60 of its total capacity of 5 million bpd traditionally raise runs in the final fiscal quarter to meet production targets set by the government indian refiners buy medium to heavy grades from the middle east under annual deals at official selling prices osps and rely on the spot market for most of their requirement for sweet light oil mainly from west africa brent crudes premium to dubai swaps or the spread between low and highsulphur crude  averaged 458 a barrel in november said refinitiv analyst ehsan ul haq that forced indians to buy middle eastern grades and osps for iraqi grades for asia were better than for rival similar oil from saudi arabia and kuwait haq said indias imports of nigerian oil declined to about 187000 bpd their lowest since july 2020 the data showed the higher iraq imports pulled up opecs share of indian oil imports to 74 in january from 725 in december and 686 a year earlier the data showed however on a fiscal year basis opecs share plunged to the lowest during january iraq continued to be the top oil supplier to india followed by saudi arabia the united arab emirates the united states and nigeria canada emerged as indias sixth largest supplier improving its ranking by 7 notches from last month and by three from a year earlier the data showed latin americas share of indias january imports fell to sixmonth lows on lower intake of mexican oil the data showed mexico has told its indian customers of planned cuts in term supplies in 2022 read more reporting by nidhi verma editing by florence tan and clarence fernandez