Indian Refiners Exceed Planned Production in January

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--Refiners in India processed 3.44 million barrels of crude oil in January 2012, 5% more than the planned 3.37 million barrels. This is a change from the previous month, when the refiners were unable to meet the target production.

Despite exceeding the planned target, 4.8% less crude was processed in January 2012, compared to January 2011.

Both the public and private sectors processed less oil compared to last year. The private sector refiners processed 5.6% less, whereas the public sector processed 4.4% less crude oil.

All the state-run refiners, with the exception of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BSE:500547) (BPCL) (Mumbai, India) and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) (Guwahati, India) had a year-over-year decline in production. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (BSE:530965) (IOCL) (New Delhi, India) witnessed a 6.3% decline. Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (BSE:500110) (CPCL) (Chennai, India) declined 6.7% , and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (BSE:500109) (Mumbai) dropped 2.8%. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (BSE:500104) (HPCL) (Mumbai) saw the highest decrease in production, a whopping 18.4% decrease from last year. This can be attributed to HPCL's Visakh refinery, which produced only 130,000 barrels, compared to 180,000 barrels in January 2011, a decline of almost 46%. BPCL and NRL rose 8% and 2.2%, respectively.

Output at Essar Oil Limited's (BSE:500134) (EOL) (Jamnagar, Gujarat) Vadinar refinery saw a healthy increase of 8.2%, whereas output from Reliance Industries' (BSE:500325) (RIL) (Mumbai) domestic oriented refinery located in Jamnagar declined 12%. The 660,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) refinery had processed 800,000 barrels the preceding year, whereas this time it only managed 710,000 Barrels.

Data for the crude processed by the Bina refinery, which was started up last year has not been included.

India currently has 21 operational refineries, which together process approximately 3.3 million BBL/d of throughput capacity. The refining sector in India is attracting estimated investments of $14 billion to $15 billion. Various greenfield and brownfield projects in progress are expected to become operational by mid-2012, taking the total refining capacity to 5.4 million BBL/d. India is already producing more than its internal petroleum products demand. With the addition of the new capacity, India will be able to export its products to developed countries in Europe and the United States.

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