Indian refiners April output up

India's oil refinery throughput rose 15.1 percent in April from a year earlier as capacity rose and most units ran at higher rates to take advantage of rising global refining margins, government data showed on Tuesday.
Refineries in Asia's third-largest energy consumer processed 3.06 million barrels per day of crude last month, up from 2.66 million bpd a year ago. The annual growth was the highest since November, when refinery throughput was up 16.4 percent.
"Refineries processed more crude to gain from overseas markets as local demand can not be stretched beyond a certain level," said an oil ministry official, who asked not to be identified. International refining margins for simple Asian refiners firmed up to $2.03 a barrel in April from $0.96 a barrel in March. They were $1.50 on Tuesday.
India is expanding its refining capacity to meet local demand and tap global markets, where refiners can make more money than selling at state-regulated lower retail rates. India's fuel exports in April surged 89 percent from a year ago.
In the last 12 months, Essar Oil has started its 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery - although it is not running at full capacity - and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) doubled the capacity of its Panipat refinery to 240,000 bpd.
The country aims to add 2.14 million bpd to its existing 2.98 million bpd capacity by 2012 as it seeks to become a global refining hub. "Oil production from northeast region was down due to rebel activities, leading to supply shortages for the refineries in region," the oil ministry official said, referring to insurgencies in north-eastern states where guerrillas routinely attack oil installations.
Overall Indian refiners' utilisation ran at 102.6 percent of installed capacity in April, compared to 104 percent in the same month last year, the data showed. Output was down 7.4 percent from March, when refiners processed about 3.3 million bpd.
Reliance Industries Ltd's 660,000 barrels per day Jamnagar refinery in western India operated at 111.9 percent capacity last month, unchanged from April 2006.
State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp's refinery in Mumbai ran at 120.8 percent of its capacity last month, while IOC's Panipat refinery operated at 103.4 percent capacity. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's Mumbai refinery operated at 106.1 percent capacity during the month. India's crude oil production in April rose 1.4 percent to 681,700 bpd from 672,400 bpd in April last year.