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    May crude oil processing rises y/y, but supply risks loom

    Synopsis

    May crude production by Oil India Ltd was about 4% less than the target, Friday's release from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said, attributing the dip to 'Less than planned contribution' from oil wells and "local disturbance and miscreants activities in main producing area." But the recovery may be short-lived as production problems persist, compounded by mature oilfields and the lack of drilling while India's dependence on foreign oil increases, with "the trend unlikely to be reversed," Ul Haq added.

    FILE PHOTO: A worker examines the valve of a pump on an ONGC well on the western Indian city of AhmedabadReuters
    FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Crude oil throughput by Indian refiners rose in May from a relatively low base last year, but concerns loomed over supply amid rapid demand growth in the world's third biggest oil consumer.

    Indian refiners' crude oil throughput in May rose about 19% year-on-year to 5.34 million barrels per day (22.64 million tonnes), provisional government data showed on Friday.

    Natural gas output rose 6.4% year on year to 2.91 billion cubic metres, while overall crude production increased 4.5% to about 623,000 barrels per day (2.55 million tonnes), the data showed.

    Preliminary data released on Wednesday showed demand rose at a rapid pace in the first two weeks of June, as concerns grew over supply. The government played down the concerns, saying unprecedented demand growth has created some temporary logistics issues in more remote places.

    Data last week showed India's fuel consumption jumped about 23.8% in May.

    Refinitiv analyst Ehsan Ul Haq said the uptick in production was merely a recovery, following a "number of production delays earlier this year" while COVID-19 hampered production last year.

    May crude production by Oil India Ltd was about 4% less than the target, Friday's release from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said, attributing the dip to 'Less than planned contribution' from oil wells and "local disturbance and miscreants activities in main producing area."

    But the recovery may be short-lived as production problems persist, compounded by mature oilfields and the lack of drilling while India's dependence on foreign oil increases, with "the trend unlikely to be reversed," Ul Haq added.

    Russia became India's second biggest supplier of oil in May, pushing Saudi Arabia into third place but still behind Iraq which remains No. 1, data from trade sources showed earlier this week.

    REFINERY PRODUCTION IN TERMS OF CRUDE THROUGHPUT (in '000 tonnes):

    May-2022 May-2022 May-2021 April-May 2022 April-May 2021

    Plan Actual Actual Actual Actual

    IOC, Guwahati 88 94 0 184 62

    IOC, Barauni 375 584 533 1,135 1,003

    IOC, Gujarat 1,145 1,359 1,045 2,677 2,042

    IOC, Haldia 713 712 624 1,419 1,320

    IOC, Mathura 837 813 692 1,618 1,511

    IOC, Digboi 59 62 61 120 118

    IOC, Panipat 1,364 1,253 1,156 2,425 2,477

    IOC, Bongaigaon 219 183 227 392 452

    IOC, Paradip 1,333 1,363 1,045 2,690 2,377

    BPCL, Mumbai 1,260 1,257 1,174 2,558 2,399

    BPCL, Kochi 1,400 1,432 910 2,746 2,274

    BORL, Bina 700 676 519 1,360 1,166

    HPCL, Mumbai 771 844 119 1,576 160

    HPCL, Visakh 695 803 737 1,600 1,563

    CPCL, Manali 930 1,005 629 1,910 1,389

    NRL, Numaligarh 245 275 226 546 447

    MRPL, Mangalore 1,250 1,415 961 2,896 2,061

    ONGC, Tatipaka 3 7 7 13 14

    HMEL, Bhatinda 980 1,111 1,102 2,151 2,161

    RIL, Jamnagar 2,837 3,124 2,837 6,158 5,610

    RIL, SEZ 2,678 2,547 2,678 4,664 4,927

    Nayara, Vadinar 1,692 1,726 1,692 3,385 3,325

    TOTAL 21,574 22,644 18,974 44,224 38,859

    Source: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

    IOC: Indian Oil Corp

    BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

    HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd

    CPCL: Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd

    MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd

    Reliance Industries Ltd

    Please note that CPCL's CBR refinery is de-commissioned under shutdown due to limitation in meeting required product specifications with the existing configuration.

    CRUDE OUTPUT ('000 tonnes):

    May-2022 May-2022 May-2021

    Plan Actual Actual

    ONGC

    Andhra Pradesh 16 16 11

    Assam $ 85 84 84

    Gujarat 381 386 370

    Tamil Nadu 22 23 25

    Offshore # 1,108 1,184 1,063

    OIL

    Assam, Arunachal Pradesh & Rajasthan (heavy oil) 276 265 253

    Private Operators 601 591 631

    Total 2,489 2,550 2,438

    Total may not tally because some numbers have been rounded.

    ONGC: Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd

    OIL: Oil India Ltd

    $ : Includes oil output of Tripura

    # : Includes oil output from Mumbai High


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