India's Crude oil import is up 13.2% in Feb 2010

Crude oil import up 13.2% in Feb

The country's crude oil import increased by 13.2 per cent in February to 10.67 million tonnes year-on-year. This increase was for the second straight month, as the refiners started their plants after a shutdown for maintenance.

However, domestic oil products sales saw a marginal decline of 0.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Petroleum Ministry data. One of the factors for the drop in demand was power, steel and fertiliser plants continuing to use natural gas instead of fuel oil for power generation.

Petrol sales rose 12.6 per cent and diesel sales 8.7 per cent. The demand for auto fuels was up due to surge in auto sales.

Domestic fuel sales for the month stood at 11.39 mt in February down from 11.41 mt in the same month previous year. Diesel demand rose to 4.67 mt, while petrol sales saw an increase to 1.06 mt.

Petroleum product exports were down 5.3 per cent in February, while imports of petroleum products dropped by 0.4 per cent.
Business Line, New Delhi, March 30 2010