India's November crude imports mark biggest decline in nearly four years

(Reuters) - India's monthly crude oil imports in November marked their biggest year-on-year decline in nearly four years, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Thursday.

The country's November crude imports slid 11.4 percent to 17.01 million tonnes, registering their largest year-on-year percentage fall since Feb. 2015, when it tumbled 21.3 percent, the government data showed.

The fall was largely attributed to maintenance shutdowns at some Indian refineries.

In November, oil imports from Iran also declined to the lowest level in a year as purchases were curbed as a result of the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Meanwhile, imports of oil products declined about 7 percent and exports fell 6.8 percent, the data showed.

(Reporting by Harshith Aranya in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans and Alexandra Hudson)