New Delhi: India’s exports of refined petroleum products (POL) jumped 32.1% in November 2023, while its natural gas production rose by 7.1% to 3,041 MMSCM, compared with the same month a year earlier, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) reported, signaling a strong uptick in the country’s energy sector amidst global demand shifts.
The country’s POL exports in the April-November 2023 period also went up by 2.7% compared to the previous year. The rise in exports was primarily due to an increase in the export of vacuum gas oil (VGO), motor-spirit (MS), and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), data released by the Oil Ministry showed.
Domestic consumption of petroleum products for April-November 2023 was reported at 152.3 MMT, a growth of 4.9% from the same period the previous year. This increase was led by a rise in the consumption of MS by 6.5%, HSD by 5.4%, ATF by 12.9%, and naphtha by 12.4%.
Ethanol blending with petrol for November 2023 was recorded at 10.24%, during the first month of the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2023-24, marginally lower than the 12.06% blending rate during the ESY December 2022- October 2023.
Natural gas consumption for November 2023, including internal consumption, was higher by 6.6% at 5,328 MMSCM compared to the previous year. The cumulative consumption for the financial year till November was 8.5% higher than the previous year’s period.
India’s LNG imports in November 2023 saw an increase of 5.3% over November 2022, with a total import of 2,337 MMSCM. Cumulative imports for the financial year till November were higher by 12.4%.
The report also stated that total crude oil processed in November 2023 was 21.7 MMT, up by 10.7% from the previous year, with PSUs and JVs processing a major share.
Crude oil imports decreased by 2.3% in November 2023 but showed an overall increase of 0.4% during April-November 2023. The net import bill for oil and gas for November was USD 11.1 billion.
The Brent crude price averaged USD 83.18/bbl in November 2023, with the Indian basket crude price averaging at USD 83.46/bbl.
Petroleum product production was at 22.8 MMT in November 2023, showing a 12.4% hike from the previous year. POL product imports increased by 2.6% in November 2023 and by 11.5% during April-November 2023, driven by higher imports of petcoke, fuel oil, and bitumen.
