In June, India’s crude imports slumped to near the lowest level in nine years due to the country-wide coronavirus lockdown and sufficient product inventories.
In June, the country imported 3.34 million bpd of oil, the lowest level since December 2011. In comparison, it bought 3.45 million bpd in May while in June 2019 India imported 4.13 million bpd. The dependency rate on imported crude was down year-on-year, to 83.6% from 83.9%.
In the month, Indian refiners increased run rates to 4.28 million bpd from the previous month’s 3.86 million bpd. However, as the demand collapsed in April and May, the country had ample inventories.
Diesel sales slumped to 1.57 million bpd in June, compared to 1.85 million bpd a year earlier, Demand of gasoline plunged from 743,000 bpd in June 2019 to 642,000 bpd. Jet fuel use shrank by 66% year-on-year to 58,000 bpd.
Brent crude oil averaged USD40.07/barrel in June, from USD64.1/barrel a year earlier and USD28.98/barrel in May. The Indian crude basket averaged USD40.63/barrel, from USD60.6/barrel in the previous month and USD62.37/barrel in the corresponding time of last year.
Going forward, crude purchases in July is not expected to rebound as state-owned refiners are cutting run. In early July, Indian Oil Co. (IOC) slashed runs from 93% to 73% with plans to maintain throughput under 75% until demand improves.
