INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Fuel consumption rose 47.4% in May compared to the previous monthIndian crude oil processing gathered momentum in May, rising by some 7.3
per cent from April to around 3.87 million barrels per day (bpd) as an easing of restrictions on transport and industrial activity boosted
Compared to last year, Indian refiners' crude processing however tumbled by 24.2 per cent in May to 16.35 million tonnes, the data showed
Fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand in the world's third biggest oil consuming nation, totalled 14.65 million tonnes in May, 47.4 per
cent higher than in April.As a result, the country's refiners are already scaling up crude processing like their Asian peers
Indian Oil Corporation, the country's top refiner, aims to operate its plants at about 90 per cent capacity in June.IOC, along with
subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp, operated its refineries at an average 69 per cent of designed capacity of 1.6 million bpd, the data
showed.State refiners, which along with their subsidiaries account for about 65 per cent of the country's 5 million bpd refining capacity,
are processing 69 per cent of their installed capacity.Reliance Industries, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, operated its
two refineries at 91.7 per cent of their overall capacity of about 1.4 million bpd.Meanwhile, crude oil production fell 7.1 per cent in May
from a year earlier to 2.60 million tonnes, or 615,300 bpd, its biggest decline in five months.Natural gas output fell 16 per cent to 2.30
billion cubic metres, data showed.
