(Reuters) – India’s crude oil imports fell 9.9% month-on-month to 19.10 million metric tons in February, the lowest since November 2024, according to government data released on Thursday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, and the data is a proxy for the country’s oil demand.
BY THE NUMBERS
On a yearly basis, crude oil imports rose 4.7% from 18.24 million metric tons in February 2024, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed. Imports of crude oil products fell 17.7% on a yearly basis to 3.73 million tons in February, while product exports rose 5.8% to 5.63 million tons.
CONTEXT
February fuel consumption in India hit a five-month low, and slipped 5.4% year-on-year to 19.09 million tons, oil ministry data showed earlier this month.
India’s Reliance Industries operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, imported about 454,000 barrels per day of Russian oil in February, up 26.4% from January, data from trade sources showed last week.
India’s Russian oil imports recovered in March, returning near usual levels after a three-month decline, as non-sanctioned vessels delivered cargoes, while some supplies have been diverted from Turkey, according to five trade sources and shipping data.
KEY QUOTE
“The January U.S. sanctions on Russian crude might have weighed temporarily on imports. As long as the Indian economy keeps expanding, I expect demand and imports to trend higher,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
NOTE: The data for imports and exports is preliminary because private refiners share numbers at their discretion.
All figures are in millions of metric tons:
2025 2025 2024 2024 2024 2023
CRUDE OIL February January December February January December
IMPORTS 19.10 21.20 20.20 18.24 21.52 19.68
Imports:
2025 2025 2024 2024 2024 2023
PRODUCTS February January December February January December
LPG 1.53 1.82 1.86 1.75 1.65 1.57
Petrol 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Naphtha 0.06 0.06 0.12 0.00 0.06 0.20
Kerosene 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Diesel 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00
Fuel Oil 0.44 0.68 0.62 0.82 0.77 0.75
All 3.73 4.36 4.32 4.53 3.83 4.09
Exports:
2025 2025 2024 2024 2024 2023
PRODUCTS February January December February January December
Petrol 1.69 1.36 1.47 1.26 0.98 1.19
Naphtha 0.55 0.44 0.43 0.44 0.43 0.29
Diesel 2.33 2.79 2.49 2.40 2.02 2.84
Fuel Oil 0.14 0.14 0.20 0.14 0.25 0.19
Jet Fuel 0.65 0.53 0.84 0.82 0.73 0.77
All 5.63 5.47 5.76 5.32 4.84 5.84
NOTES:
Totals may not tally because all items are not included in the table and numbers are rounded up or down.
(Reporting by Daksh Grover and Ishaan Arora in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter)
