New Delhi: India’s fuel exports fell 21 per cent month-on-month in October as refiners prioritised festive domestic demand and diverted barrels to cover supply gaps from HPCL’s refinery outage, with Nayara Energy’s exports still held back by sanctions.
Fuel exports dropped to 1.25 million barrels per day (mbd) in October from 1.58 mbd in September, according to Kpler, a global real-time data and analytics provider. Exports of all major fuels—petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF)—declined. Diesel exports, which account for about half of India’s overall fuel exports, fell 12.5 per cent month-on-month to 665,000 barrels per day.
“The drop likely reflects stronger domestic demand, a greater share of output redirected to the local market, and operational constraints such as HPCL’s Mumbai refinery issues and ongoing maintenance at other sites,” said Sumit Ritolia, lead research analyst, refining and modelling, at Kpler. “We may see a pickup in exports during November and December, as refiners rebalance runs and domestic demand eases slightly.”
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) shut one of its processing units due to contamination of crude received from Hindustan Oil Exploration Company, causing tightness in fuel supply that private refiners helped to ease.
Both Reliance Industries and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy recorded a significant drop in exports in October. Nayara Energy, hit by sanctions and unable to access its traditional export markets, prioritised the domestic market, supplying 90,000 bpd locally in October, 50 per cent higher than in September and the highest since January. Its efforts have been supported by the government, which has doubled the train capacity available to move the company’s transport.
Domestic petrol sales increased 7 per cent year-on-year in October as the festival season boosted travel and vehicle purchases. Diesel sales slipped 0.5 per cent after an unusually strong 6 per cent jump in September. ATF sales increased 1.6 per cent and cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) sales rose 5.4 per cent.
