India’s top state oil refiners are reducing processing runs and crude imports as the surging Covid-19 pandemic has cut fuel consumption, leading to higher product stockpiles at the plants, company officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

Indian Oil, the country’s biggest refiner, has reduced runs to an average of between 85 per cent and 88 per cent of processing capacity, a company official said, adding runs could be cut further as its plants at Gujarat, Mathura and Panipat are facing problems storing bitumen and sulphur.

BPCL has cut its crude imports by 1 million barrels in May and will reduce purchases by 2 million barrels in June, a company official said.

Demand down 9.4%

The lockdown in several states has hit fuel demand by 9.4 per cent in April compared with the preceding month, official data showed on Wednesday. Fuel consumption fell 9.38 per cent to 17.01 million tonnes in April from 18.77 million tonnes in March.

Sales of petrol fell to 2.38 million tonnes in April, the lowest since August. Sales were 13 per cent lower than March 2021 and 3 per cent lower than April 2019. Demand for diesel fell to 6.67 million tonnes in April 2021, down 7.5 per cent from the previous month and 9 per cent from April 2019.

Cairn Barmer unit

Vedanta’s Cairn Oil & Gas has commenced oil production from NA 01 facility in Aishwariya Barmer Hills in Rajasthan. The firm, however, did not give production numbers.

The project is a first in Cairn’s tight oil portfolio with a growth potential to contribute 20 per cent to the company's vision production,” the company said in a statement.

The project, the firm said, has been executed in collaboration with leading global oilfields services company, Schlumberger.