Domestic public sector and private refiners produced 8.3 per cent more oil products last December from the same month a year earlier, reversing a four-month declining trend.
The refiners, including Indian Oil Corporation and Essar Oil, processed 14.7 million tonnes (mt) or 3.48 million barrels a day of crude oil in December, according to data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Public sector Indian Oil Corporation processed 27.3 per cent more crude oil to 4.9 mt. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's output increased by 14.2 per cent to 1.5 mt in December.
Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) output from its first refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat, dropped by 0.8 per cent year-on-year at 3.1 mt. Reliance does not provide data for its second 29-million-tonne per annum refinery. The combined capacity utilisation of 17 public sector and two private sector refineries in December stood at 111.4 per cent.
Oil Production
Domestic exploration companies produced 15.8 per cent more crude oil in December from a year earlier, while gas output declined by 0.2 per cent. Exploration companies produced 3.4 mt of crude oil in December. Natural gas production stood at 4.39 billion cubic metres, according to the data. The decline in natural gas output was due to drop in production from RIL operated D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari Basin.
Domestic Consumption
The oil product sales in December rose an annual 7.9 per cent to 12.75 mt. Naphtha, LPG, diesel, petrol were the main drivers of demand during the month. Increased demand from the petrochemical sector saw an annual 41.2 per cent rise in naphtha sales. Growth in diesel sales was 9.9 per cent year-on-year. LPG consumption grew by 10.9 per cent in December.
Imports/Exports
Crude oil imports during December declined an annual 17.2 per cent to 11 mt or 2.6 million barrels a day. Oil products imports rose 91.9 per cent, while exports fell 64.3 per cent. Diesel exports fell 95.2 per cent in December, while petrol exports were down 66.5 per cent from a year-ago.