Refinery output growth falls to 2.9% in June
Refinery output growth falls to 2.9% in June
New Delhi: India’s annual refinery output growth rate slowed to 2.9% in June from 7.7% in May, due to some planned maintenance shutdowns and softened refining margins in Asia, government data showed on Wednesday.
Indian refiners processed 3.299 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in June, when margins for simple Asian refiners eased to 20 cent a barrel from 37 cents in May.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects India’s fuel demand to rise to 2% in 2010 from a year ago and 3.2% in 2011.
The Paris-based agency, which advises 28 industrialized countries, expects global oil demand to grow by 1.77 million bpd this year and by 1.35 million bpd next year to 87.84 million bpd.
Crude processing at state refiners rose 3.4% in the month, data showed.
The government said Reliance Industries, whose two refineries account for over a third of India’s refining capacity, had not reported the June output of its 580,000 bpd export-focused Jamnagar refinery.
Crude processing at Reliance’s 660,000 bpd plant in Jamnagar in Gujarat, rose 1.6% from a year ago, data showed.
India’s top state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp processed 6.5% more crude in June than a year earlier.
Annual combined output of Hindustan Petroleum Corp’s two refineries declined 34.1% in June due to a maintenance shutdown of crude units at its Mumbai and Vizag plants.
Crude processing at Bharat Petroleum Corp’s two refineries rose 27.1% in June from a year earlier.
Crude oil output during the month rose 6.8% at 718,000 bpd, while natural gas output grew 25.5% to 4.50 billion cubic metres from a year ago.
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