In August, India’s imports of crude oil decreased for the third consecutive month to 18.73 million tonne (MT) as a result of maintenance work being done at its refineries and a reduction in exports from Russia. For the third consecutive month in August, India’s imports from Russia decreased, reaching a seven-month low. In August, this decreased from the 1.91 million barrels bought in July to 1.46 million barrels per day imported from Russia.
When compared year over year, the imports of crude oil increased by 6.2% in August and decreased by 0.6% from April to August. August had a 2.1% increase in domestic crude oil and condensate production to 2.49 MT from August 2022. In comparison to the same period the previous year, imports of petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) rose by 26.6% in August 2023 and 7.3% in April–August 2023, respectively.
The monthly report on the production and trading of crude oil and POL stated that “the increase in imports of POL products from April to August 2023 was primarily driven by increased imports of bitumen, petcoke, and naphtha.” Between April and August 2023, POL exports increased by 11.2% and decreased by 2.6%. High-speed diesel (HSD) and naphtha shipments were also down from April to August, which is mostly responsible for the fall in exports.
The total amount of crude oil processed in August 2023 was 21.9 MT, a 12.2% increase over August 2022. Private refiners processed 7.2 MT of crude oil, while state-run refineries and their joint ventures processed 14.7 MT. In comparison to the same period in FY23, the total amount of crude oil processed increased by 2.6% in April through August of FY24. Last month, 2.1 MT of domestic crude oil was processed.
