Indian refiners' December crude processing rises 6.5% from month earlier

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Indian refiners' crude throughput rose by 6.5% month-on-month in December to 5.62 million barrels per day (23.77 million metric tons), provisional government data showed on Monday.

Refinery throughput in November was at 5.27 million barrels per day (22.31 million metric tons).

On a year-on-year basis, refinery throughput gained 11.6% in December.

India's fuel consumption hit a monthly record in December, with demand rising 2.4% from September to 21.75 million metric tons, oil ministry data showed on January 6.

The country is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer.

The U.S. could raise tariffs on India if New Delhi does not meet Washington's demand to curb purchases of Russian oil, President Donald Trump said earlier this month.

Reliance Industries RELI.NS cut imports of Russian oil by 32.4% in December from the previous month to 310,200 barrels per day, the lowest level since February 2024.

Reliance, the biggest Indian buyer of Russian crude last year, is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January and was seeking U.S. approval to resume purchases of Venezuelan crude, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy Ltd meanwhile continued to import only Russian oil in December, the fifth month in a row, at about 371,000 barrels per day, a decline of 2.2% over November, data from trade and industry sources showed.

REFINERY PRODUCTION IN TERMS OF CRUDE THROUGHPUT (in 1,000 tons):

Source: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

IOC: Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS

BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS

HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd HPCL.NS

CPCL: Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd CHPC.NS

MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS

Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS

Please note that CPCL's CBR refinery is de-commissioned under shutdown due to limitation in meeting required product specifications with the existing configuration.