India's crude imports rise 7.4% in January

Indian oil refiners imported 10.04 million tonnes of crude oil in January, up 7.4 per cent year-on-year, according to data compiled by the petroleum ministry.

During April-January, the first 10 months of the current financial year, crude imports stood at 101.26 million tonnes, up 9.9 per cent from 92.12 million tonnes in the corresponding period a year ago.

"Refiners imported more crude for higher petroleum product exports, mainly petrol and diesel, to take advantage of the strong margins," a petroleum ministry official said.

He said export of various oil products during the month stood at 2.86 mln tn compared with 2.56 million tonnes last year.

Diesel exports in January stood at 1.12 million tonnes, up 30 per cent from last year, while petrol exports rose by 28.7 per cent to 0.37 million tonnes. "The growth in diesel and petrol export was driven by private refiners," the official said.

Private refiners exported 1.02 million tonnes of diesel in January as against 0.72 million tonnes a year ago. Petrol exports by private refiners rose to 0.36 million tonnes from 0.21 million tonnes last year, the data showed.

The country's overall imports of oil products during January stood at 1.5 million tonnes, a near 35 per cent jump from last year.

Liquefied petroleum gas imports during January rose over 24 per cent, while kerosene imports saw an unusual spurt of 766 per cent, the official said.

Total domestic consumption of oil products in January rose 4.3 per cent from a year ago to 11.2 million tonnes.