India's crude imports rose last month as most of the country's state-controlled refiners ramped up throughput to capacity. But oil product exports slipped despite the high run rate. Preliminary data from Vortexa show that India imported 4.36mn b/d of crude and condensate in January, up from December's 4.21mn b/d. The country imports over 80pc of its crude requirements and most of it comes from the Middle East. Shipments from that region rose to 3mn b/d in January from 2.72mn b/d in the previous month. This was partially offset by a drop in crude deliveries from the Americas, to 631,000 b/d last month from 843,000 b/d in December. The most popular grade among Indian refiners last month was Iraqi Basrah Heavy, with imports rising to 492,000 b/d from 331,000 b/d in December. India took 420,000 b/d of Saudi Arabia's Arab Light in January, down from 456,000 b/d in the previous month, while shipments of Basrah Medium rose to 357,000 b/d from 236,000 b/d, according to Vortexa.
India's crude imports rose despite a downturn in domestic demand for transport fuels stemming from restrictions to stem the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The growth in imports was driven by most state-run refineries operating at maximum capacity in January, but the high run rates did not translate into increased exports of refined products, suggesting that there was some product stockbuilding. India's oil product exports fell to 1.41mn b/d last month from 1.62mn b/d in December, according to Vortexa. Exports of clean petroleum products — including gasoil, gasoline, naphtha and jet fuel — dropped to 1.38mn b/d from 1.59mn b/d, while shipments of dirty products such as bitumen and fuel oil edged up to 34,500 b/d from 31,600 b/d. Diesel and other gasoil took the largest share of India's exports, although shipments fell to 629,000 b/d from 709,000 b/d. Around 73pc of India's total oil product exports were from ports close to India's private-sector refineries, the Vortexa data show. Some 61pc was exported from Sikka, where Reliance Industries operates the 1.24mn b/d Jamnagar refinery complex, and 12pc was shipped from Vadinar port, where Russian-owned Nayara Energy operates a 400,000 b/d refinery. The top destination was Singapore, accounting for 14pc of the total products exported, while the UAE accounted for 10pc, the data showed.