India’s crude oil imports in June slipped to their lowest level since February, government data released on Wednesday showed, as monsoons curtailed mobility and big refiners geared up for maintenance work.

Imports in June slipped 5.6% year-on-year to 18.45 million metric tons, and were down 16.25% from 22.03 million tons in May, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell’s (PPAC) website showed.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer. In June, the country’s fuel consumption rose by 2.6% year-on-year to 19.99 million metric tons, data showed earlier this month.

BY THE NUMBERS
PPAC data showed imports of crude oil products fell 3.2% from a year earlier to 3.65 million tons, while product exports edged 0.5% lower to 4.98 million tons.

KEY QUOTES
June’s lower crude imports in India were affected by unusually high imports in May as a result of early tanker arrivals, slowing domestic oil demand growth, and increased refinery operations in the Middle East, which diverted supplies to Europe, said analyst Giovanni Staunovo of UBS.

“Still expecting that with higher Indian oil demand over the coming years, supported by population and economic growth, imports will trend higher over the coming years,” Staunovo added.

“Refiners, specifically IOC, BPCL and Chennai Petroleum, are set to start their maintenance works over the upcoming weeks and as a consequence have started to purchase less crude,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler.

CONTEXT
India’s monthly oil imports from its biggest supplier Russia slipped marginally in June while those from the United States rose to the highest since February 2022, data obtained from the industry sources showed.

India’s Reliance Industries RELI.NS has received approval from the United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela despite Washington’s sanctions, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Last week, India’s ONGC Videsh signed a $60 million deal with Norwegian energy giant Equinor EQNR.OL to raise its stake in the offshore Azeri Chirag Gunashil (ACG) oil field in the Caspian sea and linked pipeline.

India’s oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri last month announced that Bharat Petroleum Corp was considering setting up a new refinery and the country is looking at signing more oil import deals with countries including Russia at discounted rates.

Elsewhere, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, were expected to start raising production this year but in June said the reductions would continue well into 2025.

NOTE: The data for imports and exports is preliminary because private refiners share numbers at their discretion.

NOTES:
Totals may not tally because all items are not included in the table and numbers are rounded up or down.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Arpan Varghese; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Mrigank Dhaniwala)