NEW DELHI: India’s exports of petroleum products in November declined by 12% year-on-year to 1.29 million barrels per day, driven by a significant fall in the supply to Europe, according to data provided by energy cargo tracking firm Vortexa. The decline was 3% compared to the previous month.
India had exported 1.33 million barrels per day (mbpd) of petroleum products in October this year and 1.47 mbpd in November last year.
Asia remained the top destination for the country’s exports with a month-on-month increase of 28%, while supplies to Europe declined by 62% to 87,764 barrels per day, the lowest in the last two years, as the diesel arbitrage between the East and the West narrowed, according to Vortexa.
India exported 510,572 barrels per day of petroleum products to Asia last month, up from 399,318 barrels per day in October.
“The top destinations for India’s product exports are the UAE, Singapore, US, South Korea and Australia,” said Xavier Tang, market analyst at Vortexa.
India primarily supplies petroleum products to countries in Europe and Asia. The country has emerged as a major fuel supplier to Europe in the past few months after European countries started boycotting Russian supplies post its invasion of Ukraine.
Exports to West Asia registered only a marginal increase of 2% in November at 213,471 barrels per day compared to the previous month.
The country’s exports of crude oil products, which recovered in September, have once again started to follow a declining trend. Even though analysts fear a supply glut in the oil market 2025 onwards, rising uncertain geopolitical tensions and weak demand outlook from the world’s top consumers pose threats to the country’s exports going forward.
Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri has said on multiple occasions that there is no shortage of oil in the market but if there are geopolitical tensions, it may lead to an increase in the cost of freight for shippers.
The country exports a variety of goods via the Red Sea including petroleum products. However, the traffic diversion from the Red Sea and around the Cape of Good Hope owing to geopolitical tensions in the region has added 10 days to Asia-Europe journeys and led to an increase in fuel costs, the government had said earlier.
Meanwhile, the domestic consumption of petroleum products in April-October increased to 137.6 million tonne from 133.7 million tonne in the same period in FY24, according to data from the government’s petroleum planning and analysis cell. The growth is largely driven by growth in demand for diesel, aviation turbine fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas. The country produced 162.9 million tonne of petroleum products in April-October, up from 158.4 million tonne in the same period of FY24.
The country’s demand for petroleum products is likely to grow to 239 million tonne in FY25, according to estimates by the petroleum planning and analysis cell. The country’s consumption of petroleum products stood at 233 million tonne in FY24.
Source; The Financial Express
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