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Informist, Wednesday, Jul 31, 2024

 

By Sayantan Sarkar

 

NEW DELHI – India's crude oil imports fell 1.6% on year to 4.57 mln barrels per day in July and could slow further as multiple refineries enter planned maintenance in the Jul-Sep quarter, Serena Huang, head of Asia Pacific analysis at Vortexa, told Informist. Imports were 1.1% lower on a sequential basis, according to data from the energy cargo tracking firm. 

 

Crude oil shipments from Russia declined 8.3% on year to 1.81 mln bpd in July, Vortexa data showed. Imports from Moscow had risen to a 12-month high in June as offtake by China fell, making more discounted crude oil available to other buyers. Imports from Iraq also fell to 603,000 bpd in July compared with 823,000 bpd a year ago. 

 

Saudi Arabia's share in India's import basket inched up in July, with shipments from the kingdom rising to 606,000 bpd from 386,469 bpd in the previous month. In the corresponding period a year ago, imports from the West Asian country were 510,000 bpd, the data showed. Meanwhile, crude oil imports from other countries rose to 1.55 mln bpd against 1.34 mln bpd a year ago, data showed. 

 

In the last few months, the US has emerged as one of the top five countries from where India imports crude oil. However,  with several refineries entering into planned maintenance, India is not likely to buy more crude from the US in the coming months, Huang said.

 

Huang said freight rates of very large crude carriers, known more commonly as VLCC, have suffered in recent weeks due to sluggish demand in Asia, particularly China. "Long-haul VLCC voyages from the Americas to Asia have slowed, leading to a sharp decline in VLCC tonne-mile demand," Huang said. "A slight rebound in VLCC rates from the Middle East and West Africa to Asia was observed last week, but this growth momentum may be capped with multiple factors pointing towards continued weakness in Asia’s crude demand," she added. 

 

A very large crude carrier has a deadweight tonnage or cargo-carrying capacity ranking up to 250,000 tn, and can carry up to 2 mln bbl of oil. 

 

China's refinery margins continue to be mired by weak domestic consumption, while imports from India could fall due to maintenance operations during the ongoing quarter.

 

Exports of petroleum products by India were at 1.27 mln bpd in July, up from 1.22 mln bpd a month ago, the data showed. The top destinations for India's petroleum product exports are Southeast Asia, northwestern Europe, West Asia, and eastern and southern Africa, Huang said. India exported a total of 254,000 bpd of oil products to Southeast Asia and 266,000 bpd to northwestern Europe. West Asia imported 191,000 bpd of crude oil products from India last month, while shipments to Africa were 132,000 bpd.

 

"In the near term, India's product exports may be capped with refineries entering planned maintenance this quarter, and export margins being pressured by ample product supplies in Europe and Asia, the country's key destination markets," Huang said.  End

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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