India's crude oil imports in April rose 6% from a year earlier, helped by an expanding economy and as growing auto sales boosted demand for transportation fuels.
India
's
crude oil imports in April rose 6% from a year earlier, helped by an expanding
economy and as growing auto sales boosted demand for transportation fuels.
The South Asian nation, which meets almost four-fifths of its crude oil
requirements through overseas buys, saw April imports rise to 15.84 million
metric tons, or 3.87 million barrels a day, from a year earlier's 14.96 million
tons, or 3.66 million barrels a day, the website of the Petroleum Planning and
Analysis Cell showed Wednesday.
Factory output in
India
rose
7.3% year-on-year in March, the latest month for which numbers are available,
while car sales in the fiscal year ended March 31 grew 13% to 162,825 units,
helped by new model launches and rising middle-class income. Demand for
transportation fuels also got a boost from elections in five provinces.
Refiners like Bharat Petroleum Corp. (500547.BY), Hindustan Petroleum Corp.
(500104.BY) and Indian Oil Corp. (530965.BY) deferred refinery shutdowns
planned in April and May to September and beyond to meet higher local demand.
Refinery runs at
India
's 20
refineries during the month rose 4% to 16.71 million tons, or 4.08 million
barrels a day, the data showed.
India
's
total oil product sales in April rose 4.2% to 12.63 million metric tons from a
year earlier, the PPAC data showed.
Diesel sales in April rose 1.4% to 5.47 million tons from 5.39 million tons a
year earlier, according to the government body under the oil ministry.
Gasoline sales rose 7.4% to 1.20 million tons from 1.12 million tons.
Demand for diesel and gasoline is expected to increase in
India
--the
world's second-fastest growing major economy--driven by rising income levels
and higher vehicle sales. Diesel and gasoline account for the bulk of
India
's oil
products consumed.
Private sector and state-run refiners in
India
are
increasing refining capacities across the board through new refineries as well
as brownfield expansion projects to become a refining hub for the Asian region
and to meet fast-growing local demand.
Although
India
is a
net importer of crude oil, it is a net exporter of oil products.
Neighboring
China
curbed exports of gasoline and diesel in April as the government limited
outbound shipments as part of efforts to safeguard domestic supplies in the
upcoming summer season.
China's exports of refined products is expected to fall further this month
after its top refiner by capacity, China Petrochemical Corp., said it halted
oil product exports to meet robust local demand.
India
's
cooking gas sales rose 8.3% in April to 1.17 million tons from a year earlier. Kerosene
sales was almost flat at 748,000 tons.
India
,
which imported 163.51 million tons of crude oil in the past fiscal year,
expects its crude oil import to rise in the current financial year as it
commissioned a 120,000-barrels-a-day refinery at Bina in the central state of
Madhya Pradesh Friday. It expects to start a 180,000-barrels-a-day refinery at
Bathinda in the north in June.
Oil product imports in
India
fell
8% to 957,000 tons from 1.04 million tons a year earlier, the website showed. Oil
products exports in April rose 10% to 4.46 million tons from 4.04 million tons.
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