India’s exports of petroleum products grew marginally by 1.5% to 47.5 million tonne during April–December, compared to 46.8 million tonne in the same period last fiscal, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. The rise in exports was primarily driven by increased shipments of motor spirit, petcoke/CBFS and fuel oil.
In December 2024, however, petroleum product exports declined to 5.4 million tonne from 5.8 million tonne in December 2023.
Imports of refined oil products increased by 7% to 38.5 million tonne during April–December 2024, compared to 36 million tonne in the same period last fiscal. The import bill for these products also rose to $18.2 billion, up from $17.1 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.
India’s consumption of petroleum products during the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal rose to 178.5 million tonne, up from 172.6 million tonnes in the same period last fiscal. This growth was attributed to higher demand for diesel, motor spirit, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
While the demand for ATF increased by 9.8%, that of LPG and motor spirit grew by 6.7% and 8.0% respectively. Diesel consumption recorded a growth of 2.2% during April-December from last year.
Looking ahead, India projects domestic petroleum product demand to reach a record 252.9 million tonne in FY26.
India’s petroleum product exports in December increased by 3.1% to 1.37 million barrels per day (bpd), compared to 1.33 million bpd in December 2023, according to energy cargo tracking firm Vortexa. This also marked a 4.5% rise from November 2024, when exports stood at 1.31 million bpd.
Africa emerged as the top destination for India’s petroleum exports in December, while shipments to traditional importers in Asia and Europe witnessed significant decline.
Even though analysts fear a supply glut in the oil market 2025 onwards, rising uncertain geopolitical tensions and weak demand outlook from the world’s top consumers could negatively impact India’s exports going forward.
Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri has repeatedly emphasised that there is no shortage of oil in the market. However, he acknowledged that geopolitical tensions could lead to increased freight costs for shippers.
India primarily supplies petroleum products to Europe and Asia. Notably, the European Union (EU) implemented a price cap and embargo on Russian crude oil imports in December 2022, aiming to limit Russia’s revenues during its conflict with Ukraine. However, refined petroleum products derived from Russian crude were excluded from the restrictions.