12 October 2018, News Wires — India’s oil imports fell by 13.7 percent in September from a
year earlier to 4.2 million barrels per day as Bharat Petroleum Corp skipped imports
due to a maintenance turnaround at its central India refinery, according to data from shipping
and industry sources.
BPCL had shut its 120,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) joint venture Bina refinery from mid-August
for 45 days for upgrades and maintenance, sources previously told Reuters.
Nayara Energy, part owned by Russian oil major Rosneft, also curtailed imports
ahead of a month long shutdown from mid-November, the data showed.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, received a marginally higher volume from Iran
in September compared to the previous month as loading of some of the August cargoes was delayed
due to unavailability of shipping and insurance to transport oil from Tehran.
The Middle East’s share of India’s total oil imports rose in September to 62.3 percent from
60 percent in August, while that of African grades jumped to about 17 percent from about 13
percent. South American grades were about 12.5 percent of India’s overall purchases, compared
with 15.8 percent in August, the data showed.
The following table shows India’s imports by country. The imports include condensate.
Volumes are in ‘000 bpd.
– Reuters
