India’s oil imports had fallen in June, thereby hitting their lowest since October 2011, as refiners had stopped purchases due to maintenance turnarounds and weaker fuel demand, shown by the data from the industry sources.
India was known as the world’s third-biggest oil consumer and importer, that had received 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) oil in June, a decline of 0.4 per cent from May and about 28.5 per cent from a year ago, the data showed.
Last month reports stated that India hadn’t imported oil from Venezuela for the first time since June 2009. Major refiners that included Indian Oil Crop, the country’s top refiner, Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, and Bharat Petroleum Corp plan to shut units for maintenance.
Indian fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, typically tapers during the four-month monsoon season from June as rains hit construction and transportation. In the first of half July, India’s fuel demand slowed compared with the previous month due to high retail prices and renewed coronavirus lockdowns in parts of the country. (Source: India Today)
Private refiner Nayara Energy, part-owned by Russian oil major Rosneft, last month had imported a cargo of Khafji oil from Neutral Zone, whose production belongs to both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, hence making it India’s first purchase from the region since September 2015.
In the month of June, Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as top oil supplier after a gap of two months, while UAE and Nigeria retained the third and fourth slots, the data showed. The United States was in fifth place, a position held by Venezuela in May.
