"We bought some (diesel) for the first-half of October because we were a little unsure about supplies from the Reliance refinery. From the second- half, we are not buying any diesel," the official, who did not want to be identified, said.

The OCC is the state-run planning and monitoring agency forthe country's oil sector. India placed the import order for the first-half October delivery on August 23.

At the start of the fiscal 1999/2000 (April-March), the OCC had planned to stop diesel imports after June when the first train of crude distillation unit (CDU) and vacuum distillation unit (VDU) of Reliance Petroleum Ltd's (RPL) refinery was scheduled to come onstream.

RPL had informed the OCC it would process 8,27,000 tonnes of crude in June, but it started feeding crude into its Jamnagar refinery in the western state ofGujarat on July 14.

Crude throughput at the Jamnagar refinery was less than planned with 2,94,000 tonnes processed in July against a planned 1.732 million tonnes, and 7,47,000 tonnes in August against a target of 2.256 million tonnes.

But the OCC official said the output from the refinery would increase after the coker and the fluidised catalytic cracking unit are commissioned late September.

"The refinery's crude throughput has already touched 27,000 tonnes per day," he added.

The refinery's annual capacity is 27 million tonnes and its second train of CDU/VDU is scheduled to be commissioned by end-October.

At full capacity, the refinery would produce almost 12 million tonnes of diesel offsetting India's need to import the product.

In 1998/99, India imported 11.34 million tonnes of diesel.

Last week, a member of the panel which approves India's crude oil and product imports told Reuters that diesel movement from the RPL refinery would stop imports from November.

Product movement from therefinery to other states was hampered until early September because of a dispute over sales tax.

Stocks piled up at the refinery with only 516 tonnes of the 78,000 tonnes of pumpable diesel moved out until August 9 for supply within the Gujarat state.

The first tanker carrying Reliance diesel for supply to other states was loaded on September 8.