In October, India posted the steepest fall of crude oil imports since July and the seventh consecutive drop monthly on a yearly basis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, last month, India imported 15.14 million tonnes or 3.58 million bpd of crude oil, a 21.6% year-on-year drop. Oil products shipment to the country also plunged by 53% to 1.65 million tonnes.
Analyst Kunal Shah of Nirmal Bang Commodities opined that the significant imports drop was due to the fulfillment of existing demand by the inventory from prior months.
Exports of refined products were also hit by the pandemic as it slumped by 35.7% year-on-year last month to 3.84 million tonnes, and decelerated by 20% month-on-month.
Diesel exports dropped by 24% year-on-year and 11.2% month-on-month to 2.37 million tonnes. Gasoline exports also dipped by 19.8% year-on-year to 797,000 tonnes.
Going forward, India’s factory activity is recovering as in October, it expanded at the quickest pace in more than ten years. Shah predicted that in the upcoming months, oil demand would also rise.
