The country's fuel consumption grew 3.5% in August and crude oil imports soared 9.7% as refiners imported more crude to export processed products.Petroleum product demand rose to 9.43 million tonne in August from 9.11 million tonne a year ago, according to latest data released by the petroleum ministry here.LPG, petrol and ATF consumption continued to show double- digit growth but diesel demand was moderated to 5.7%.The country, which meets 73% of its crude oil demand through import, bought 1 million tonne of crude from overseas in August as against 9.16 million tonne last year.Import of petroleum products dipped 5.6% to 1.6 million tonne while exports saw a robust 7.8% growth to 3.21 million tonne."With refining capacity exceeding the domestic demand, fuel exports will continue," an official said. The main products of exports are petrol, naphtha, ATF and diesel.India's crude oil production rose 6.4% to 2.87 million tonne while refineries produced 8.2% more products at 13.09 million tonne.During April-August, fuel consumption rose 3.2% to 50.58 million tonne as petrol and ATF clocked growth of 11.6% and 14.7% respectively. LPG saw 9.3% growth in demand while diesel was a tad better at 9.4%.Crude oil import surged 15.4% to 51.88 million tonne as against 44.97 million tonne in April-August and oil product exports jumped 35.7% to 16.61 million tonne.Domestic crude oil production improved marginally to 14.14 million tonne from 1 million tonne last year. Refineries produced 6.3% more products in April-August at 64.66 million tonne.
