Crude oil refining output rose less than 1% in October to 20.6 MMT

Indian refiners processed 20.6 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil in October, 0.9 per cent higher than the 20.4 MMT of crude processed in the same month last year, data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed.

Of this, government-owned oil companies and joint ventures processed 14.3 MMT, while private refiners processed 6.2 MMT of crude oil, the data showed.

Meanwhile, domestic crude production rose by an annual 1.2 per cent to 2.49 MMT in October. The output increased by 4.6 per cent sequentially from the 2.43 MMT registered in September. In October, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 1.62 MMT, followed by Oil India Limited (OIL) at 0.3 MMT.

Crude oil imports increased by 2.2 per cent to 18.52 MMT in October, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Imports stood at 17.5 MMT in September. In the first seven months of the current financial year, crude oil import volumes rose 0.6 per cent cumulatively.

Russia remained the single-largest supplier of crude oil for the 13th straight month as of October, estimates made by London-based commodity data analytics provider Vortexa, which tracks ship movements to estimate imports, show.

Gross production of natural gas for October was 3,161 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters (MMSCM), higher by 9.3 per cent compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. The cumulative gross production of natural gas was 21,040 MMSCM for the current financial year till October. This was higher by 4.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.

During this period, crude oil imports from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries increased to a 10-month high in October.