Crude oil consumption increased by 4.6% in FY24: PPAC

India’s total consumption of crude oil or petroleum products rose 4.6 pent in fiscal 2023-24 (FY24) to 233.3 million metric tonne (MMT), while domestic production of crude oil rose marginally at 0.6 per cent. The domestic crude oil production was almost unchanged at 29.4 MMT in 2023-24, compared to 29.2 MMT in the year-ago period.

According to the latest oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data, India imported 232.5 million tonnes of crude oil, which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel, in the 2023-24 fiscal (April 2023 to March 2024), almost the same as in the previous financial year.

But the world’s third largest oil importing and consuming nation paid $132.4 billion for the imports in FY24 as against $157.5 billion import bill in 2022-23, so crude oil bill dropped 16 per cent in FY24, oil ministry’s data showed. Import dependence of crude oil soared to 87.7 per cent in 2023-24, up from 87.4 per cent, according to PPAC.

The growth in oil consumption during the previous fiscal was driven by 6.4 per cent growth in motor spirit (MS) or petrol, 4.4 percent in high speed diesel (HSD), 11.8 per cent in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and 14.3 per cent in naptha consumption besides LPG, lubes, bitumen, petcoke and LDO. The product consumption in the previous year stood at 223 MMT.

While the country is short in crude oil production, it has surplus refining capacity which enables export of petroleum products like diesel. Against the consumption of 233.3 million tonnes, petroleum product production was 276.1 million tonnes in 2023-24, PPAC data showed.

India produced a total of 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil in March 2024 – registering a growth of 2.02 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Out of 2.5 MMT, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 1.6 MMT of crude oil while Oil India Limited (OIL) and and private sector producers contributed 0.3 MMT and 0.6 MMT, according to the latest PPAC data.

Crude oil imports decreased by 4.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent during March and FY24 respectively, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The net import bill for oil and gas was $10.7 billion in March 2024 compared to $9.8 billion in March 2023. Out of which, crude oil imports constitutes $11.6 billion, liquified natural gas (LNG) imports $1.1 billion and the exports were $4.0 billion during March 2024, the data showed.

The Indian basket crude price averaged $84.49 per barrel during March 2024 compared to $81.62 per barrel during February 2024 and $78.54 per barrel during March 2023.  The price of Brent crude averaged $85.48 per barrel during March 2024 compared to $83.93 per barrel during February 2024 and $78.56 per barrel during March 2023.

The production of petroleum products was 24.9 MMT during March 2024 which is 1.5 per cent higher than March 2023. Out of above 24.9 MMT, 24.6 MMT was from refinery production and 0.3 MMT was from fractionator. There was a growth of 3.6 per cent in production of petroleum products in FY24 compared to same period of FY23.

The consumption of petroleum products during March 2024 recorded de-growth of 0.6 per cent with a volume of 21.1 MMT compared to the year-ago period, according to PPAC data. India is dependent on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements and around 50 per cent of its natural gas requirements.