INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Crude oil imports last month dropped about 19 per cent from a year earlierIndia's crude oil imports fell in June to their lowest level
since February 2015, while year-on-year refined product exports declined for the first time in almost a year, government data showed on
Friday.Crude oil imports last month dropped about 19 per cent from a year earlier to 13.68 million tonnes, down for a third straight month,
data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum - Natural Gas showed."This is likely driven by not
yet fully recovered oil demand and expectation that it might take longer to have Indian oil demand rising strongly again," said UBS analyst
Giovanni Staunovo."Together with higher crude imports at the start of the year, crude tanks are still well filled, reducing the need to
import more crude for now."Fuel demand in India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, fell 7.8 per cent in June compared
with a year earlier as surging coronavirus cases and rising retail prices hammered demand."India's fuel demand recovery will continue to
stall as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket," said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya.India's tally of COVID-19 cases jumped by
a record 55,078 on Friday to 1.64 million in India.Oil product exports fell about 6 per cent, their first year-on-year fall since August
2019, primarily driven by declining diesel exports, which slid to their lowest since April last year.Shipments of diesel also registered
some refineries are now planning to conduct maintenance and shutdowns in late third quarter of 2020, which will likely keep exports in
check," said Aaron Cheong, oil product analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects.The country's top refiner, Indian Oil Corp, said it would
continue to operate its refineries below capacity in 2020/21 as it expected local and overseas fuel demand to remain subdued.
