Record high imports of crude oil from Russia in fiscal year 2022-23 should help India’s refiners boost diesel and jet fuel exports to Europe as the continent ditches Russian products, according to preliminary reports from Kepler and Vortex. Ship-tracking data showed that.
Access to cheap Russian crude has boosted production and profits at Indian refineries, enabling them to export refined products competitively to Europe and capture a larger market share.
Read also: Product demand drives refining margin
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe normally imported an average of 154,000 barrels per day (bpd) of diesel and jet fuel from India.
That rose to 200,000 bpd after the European Union imposed a ban on imports of Russian oil products from February 5, Kpler data showed.
India’s imports of Russian crude rose for the seventh month in a row in March and ended the fiscal year as the top supplier for India, displacing Iraq for the first time, data showed.
Read also: How India Can Minimize Losses From OPEC+ Production Cuts
Indian refiners, who previously rarely bought Russian oil because of high transport costs, will import 970,000-981,000 bpd in 2022/23, accounting for more than a fifth of total imports at 4.5-4.6 million bpd, Kepler and Vortex data accounting.
The data suggests imports from Iraq are set to decline by around 1 million bpd to 936,000-961,000 bpd in 2021/22.
Read also: Bank of Baroda stopped clearing payments for over-capped Russian oil: Report
While Russia’s prime grade Ural forms the bulk of India’s purchases, refiners are also importing lighter grades from Russia’s Far East and Arctic grades such as Sokol, Arko, Novy Port and ESPO Blend.
Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft and top Indian refiner Indian Oil Corporation signed a term agreement to significantly increase and diversify the oil grades supplied to India.
oily substance
As Europe’s embargo kept Russian products out, India’s diesel exports to the continent rose 12-16% to 150,000-167,000 bpd in the last fiscal year, Kepler and Vortexa data showed.
This accounts for about 30% of India’s total gas oil exports, up from 21-24% a year ago, the data showed.
Kepler data shows that the major European buyers of Indian diesel are France, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Europe accounts for about 50% of India’s jet fuel exports, or about 70,000-75,000 bpd in 2022/23, up from 40,000-42,000 bpd last year, the data showed.
Apart from increasing exports to Europe, India has also increased Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) shipments to the US
The US will take about 11,000-12,000 bpd VGO in 2022/23, or 65-81% of India’s total exports of refining feedstock that can be further processed to produce fuels such as gasoline and diesel, the data showed. Let’s go
In 2021/22, India exports about 500 bpd VGO to the United States.
However, India’s total annual refined fuel exports in 2022/23 were lower than a year ago as some refiners shut units for maintenance in late 2022.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.
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