India Dec refinery output up 0.8 pct y/y-govt

Indian refiners processed 0.8 percent more oil in December from a year ago, the second straight monthly rise, as local fuel demand and Asian refining margins eased during the month.
Growth in local fuel sales in December eased to 2.3 percent versus 11.3 percent in November as use of refined fuels declined due to a cold wave which hampers transportation and construction activity. Gasoil is not used widely for heating.
Refiners processed about 3.51 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil last month, slightly less than November, when crude throughput was up an annual 11 percent over a low base in the year-ago period.
Reliance Industries, whose two refineries at Jamnagar in western Gujarat state account for about a third of India's refining capacity, does not report data for its 580,000 bpd export-focused plant to the government.
Output at Reliance's 660,000 bpd plant declined 4.2 percent during the month, while that of Essar Oil's 280,000 bpd Vadinar refinery, also in Gujarat, was almost flat.
Throughput of state refiners rose an annual 2.3 percent in December, when global refining margins softened.
Last month, some units were shut at Indian Oil Corp's Barauni plant in eastern India, while output at Hindustan Petroleum's Vizag plant was down after a state anti-pollution body sought a cut to curb emissions.
For a table on India's refinery and crude oil output, see:
Crude processing by the 120,000 bpd Bina refinery in central India, which came onstream last year, has not so far been included in the data.
The country's crude oil output in December declined an annual 5.6 percent to about 750,350 bpd due to a fall in production from some development wells in the western fields of Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
India, the world's fourth-biggest crude importer, produces only a fraction of its overall needs.
Natural gas output declined an annual 10.8 percent to about 3.92 billion cubic metres in December as output from the Reliance-operated D6 block in the east coast fell after touching about 60 million cubic metres per day in 2010.
Output from the D6 block could fall further, the upstream regulator said earlier this month.
India's oil output is expected to rise an annual 1.3 percent to 763,800 bpd in the fiscal year 2011/12, while natural gas production is seen edging down to 51.68 billion cubic metres from a year ago, a government statement said last week.
Source: Reuters