NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Oil is buying Russian crude oil cargoes without the involvement of sanctioned entities and expects gasoline demand to grow 6-7% in the fiscal year 2026, the company’s chairman said on Tuesday.
Diesel demand will grow 4% in the year to 2026, he said.
Indian petrochemical margins will remain weak in 2025, Indian Oil <IOC.NS> Chairman A S Sahney said on the sidelines of India Energy Week in New Delhi.
“I don’t see margins recovering this year as well,” Sahney said, adding oversupply in petrochemical markets will keep margins subdued.
The state-run oil giant expects to operate the expanded 500,000 barrels-per-day Panipat refinery by June 2026 and is waiting for approval for construction of the 180,000 bpd Nagapattinam refinery from the oil ministry, Director of Refineries Arvind Kumar said at the industry event.
It will take 40-50 months to complete construction of the Nagapattinam refinery in southern state of Tamil Nadu, he added.
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan, Sethuraman N R, Nidhi Verma; Writing by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Kim Coghill)
