India refiners’ July crude processing catches up with demand rebound

Indian refiners’ crude throughput in July bounced to its highest in three months, as the easing of coronavirus restrictions boosted economic activity and fed demand for fuel.

Provisional government data on Monday showed refiners processed 4.58 million barrels per day (19.38 million tonnes) of crude oil last month, about 1.9% higher than 4.50 million bpd processed in June.

On a year-on-year basis, refiners’ crude oil throughput in July jumped about 9.6%, while crude oil production fell about 3% to 602,000 bpd (2.55 million tonnes), the data showed. Fuel demand also climbed last month to its highest since April as pandemic restrictions and lockdowns were unwound in most states. read more

Still, heavy monsoon rains in some regions caused large-scale flooding in early August, easing demand from gasoil and gasoline, preliminary sales data showed last week. read more

Refiners in India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, are set to invest 2 trillion rupees ($26.96 billion) to boost oil refining capacity by 20% by 2025, junior oil minister Rameswar Teli said this month. read more

Indian refiners operated at an average rate of 91.34% of capacity in July, up from 89.59% of capacity in June, the government data showed.