December refinery output rises YoY after 4 months
Refiners' output rose in December from a year ago after four straight months of decline as crude runs at Reliance Industries' larger plant improved, and the overall positive trend may continue this month.
January 25, 2011 / 16:58 IST
Refiners' output rose in December from a year ago after four straight months of decline as crude runs at Reliance Industries' larger plant improved, and the overall positive trend may continue this month.
Domestic refiners processed 3.48 million barrels per day (bpd) oil in December, 8.3% more than a year ago, government data showed on Tuesday, despite softening refining margins for the month as refiners stepped up runs to meet growing local fuel demand.India's local oil product sales rose an annual 7.9% in December, highest since Oct 2009. Output from Reliance's 660,000 bpd plant at Jamnagar in western Gujarat state declined an annual 0.8% in December, recovering from a 30.4% decline in November, when the plant was partially shut for about 20 days for maintenance.December refinery output should also continue to rise but the rate of growth might slow as Reliance plans to shut two secondary units at its old refinery from later this week for maintenance for three-four weeks. State refiners are not planning any major maintenance shutdowns in the March quarter. Output of state refiners rose an annual 11.3% in December.Reliance, whose two refineries in western India account for over a third of the country's refining capacity, does not report throughput data for its 580,000-bpd export-focused Jamnagar refinery to the government.The country's crude oil output during the month rose 15.8% to about 795,100 bpd -- still a fraction of the overall needs of the world's fourth-biggest crude importer.Natural gas output declined 0.2% to 4.39 billion cubic metres from a year ago as Reliance is pumping 52-53 million cubic metres a day (mcmd) from the block off India's east coast, less than the 60 mcmd it pumped last year.The country's upstream regulator has said output could rise to 60 mcmd by April. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
