(Reuters) -India’s crude oil imports in May reached a record high of 23.32 million metric tons, up 9.8% month-on-month, government data showed on Monday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The data highlights demand in India, the world’s third-largest importer and consumer of oil, reflecting the broader economic and industrial activity.
CONTEXT
India’s fuel demand rose to 21.32 million metric tons in May, its highest level in more than a year, data from the oil ministry showed this month.
India will take measures to safeguard domestic fuel supplies, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday, after U.S.
attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend raised the risk of disruption to Middle Eastern oil and gas, leading to soaring energy prices.
Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest levels since January.
[O/R]
The share of Russian oil in India’s imports in May declined marginally as refiners cut purchases from Moscow by 15.7% to 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), tanker data from trade and industry sources showed.
BY THE NUMBERS
On a yearly basis, crude oil imports climbed 5.9% from 22.03 million metric tons in May 2024, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).
Imports of crude oil products fell by about 3.9% on a yearly basis to 4.20 million tons in May, while product exports rose more than 7% to 5.63 million tons.
KEY QUOTE
“The strong m/m growth of oil imports for India in May suggests a resilient economy, and the import growth of oil may continue to rise due to stockpiling purposes, as we may see higher oil prices due to rising geopolitical risk premiums,” said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, at OANDA.
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 2025 2024 2024 2024
CRUDE OIL May April March May April March
IMPORTS 23.32 21.23 22.70 22.03 21.44 20.82
Imports:
2025 2025 2025 2024 2024 2024
PRODUCTS May April March May April March
Petrol 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.09 0.03 0.00
Naphtha 0.02 0.02 0.09 0.07 0.12 0.00
Kerosene 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Diesel 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Fuel Oil 0.51 0.30 0.46 0.62 0.79 0.69
All 4.20 3.89 4.32 4.37 4.32 4.35
Exports:
2025 2025 2025 2024 2024 2024
PRODUCTS May April March May April March
Petrol 1.45 1.22 1.77 1.28 1.18 1.34
Naphtha 0.72 0.58 0.37 0.39 0.44 0.50
Diesel 2.34 1.30 2.83 2.14 2.00 2.44
Fuel Oil 0.14 0.17 0.22 0.15 0.12 0.26
Jet Fuel 0.75 0.49 0.67 0.86 0.64 0.79
All 5.63 4.05 6.14 5.26 4.75 5.67
NOTE:
Totals may not match exactly as not all items are included in the table and figures are rounded.
(Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
