Official data showed that Indian refiners processed 4.45 million bpd of crude oil in September, rebounding from a ten-month low of 4.36 million bpd in August. September’s throughput was 2.9% above the year-ago level. This means that India’s refinery utilisation rate averaged 88.69% of capacity last month, up from 86.89% in August.
Analysts said refiners had been boosting runs to anticipate higher fuel demand as people travel more during the festive season. At the same time, coal shortages prompted some end-users to switch to oil products. India’s Reliance Industries Ltd imported 1.2 million bpd of crude in September, an increase of nearly 12% from August.
The government’s data also showed that India’s crude oil output decreased by around 1.7% from August to around 600,000 bpd in September. Meanwhile, natural gas production jumped 26.6% to 2.90 Bcm over the same period.
