PPAC Mid Year Report: India's Petroleum Consumption, Natural Gas Production Rises

India's petroleum product consumption from April- September 2023 rose 6.4% year- on- year to a record 114.3 million metric tonnes in H1FY24, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell's Mid Year Ready Reckoner report.

India's natural gas production rose 4% year- on- year in H1FY24 to 17,879 million metric standard cubic metre.

The growth in petroleum products was mainly driven by high-speed diesel, which remained the most consumed petroleum product, accounting for 38.5% of overall consumption. Motor spirit was the second largest contributor at 16.2%.

The consumption of aviation turbine fuel observed a shift, experiencing a 13.2% increase as the sector returned back to the pre-pandemic operational capacity. Its share recovered to 96.7% of the pre- pandemic high of 2018-19, as per the report

Out of the 114.3-million metric tonne demand, 14.2 mmt was supplied from production from indigenous crude and condensate, indicating a 12.4% self sufficiency compared to the 13.5% rate in the same period a year ago.

The domestic gross production of natural gas for the April-September 2023 period showed a 4% year- on- year increase to 17,879 mmscm from 17,184 mmscm a year ago.

The above rise was mainly due to an increase in production of natural gas from PSC/JVs fields, which contributed to 18.4% of total production. Natural gas production from ONGC nomination fields however, showed declining trend to 3.2%

Crude oil imports registered a 0.3% increase compared to the previous year, aligning with the concurrent rise in the consumption of petroleum products.

The LNG Imports in volume terms rose by 12.7% from 13,680 mmscm in the April-September 2022 period to 15,416 mmscm in H1FY24. However, the LNG Imports in US $ terms fell by 31.2%.

With respect to the import of petroleum products, imports of Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants products experienced 13.0% rise in H1FY24 compared to the previous year.

According to the report, the rise in imports during this period was primarily driven by an increase in the import of petcoke, bitumen, and fuel oil. Within the import basket of petroleum products in H1FY24, liquefied petroleum gas held the highest share at 35.5%, followed by petcoke at 21.6%, and fuel oil at 18.9%.

The exports of petroleum, oil, and lubricants products in H1FY24 saw a 2.5% YoY decline. The reduction was primarily attributed to a decrease in the export of high-speed diesel and naphtha.

In value terms, exports during the H1FY24 dropped to 23.6 billion US dollar from 32.9 billion US dollar a year ago, marking a 28.3% decrease. High-speed diesel, motor spirit, and aviation turbine fuel emerged as the top three products in the export basket