Indian refiners’ throughput in May rose 0.4 per cent year-on-year to 5.47 million barrels per day (23.11 million metric tons), provisional government data showed on Thursday.
Refinery throughput in April was at 5.25 million barrels per day (21.49 million metric tons).
India’s fuel demand in May rose to its highest in more than a year, while crude oil imports reached a record high of 23.32 million metric tons.
The country is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer. “What drives refinery runs is domestic demand and refined product net exports. Oil demand was modestly up in May versus one year ago and refined product exports lower versus last year, so I guess that is the reason for the modest change,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.
The share of Russian oil in India’s imports in May declined marginally as refiners cut purchases from Moscow by 15.7 per cent to 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), tanker data from trade and industry sources showed.
India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd shut its 144,000 bpd crude distillation unit in mid-May, according to a refinery source and four traders who confirmed the development in early May.
