(MUMBAI) Bookings of tankers to export fuels from India's west coast, the home of two Reliance Industries Ltd refineries, rose in February as India sold more petrol to the US. Shipments of at least 1.07 million tonnes, or about 9.1 million barrels, of oil products have left West India so far this month for places such as Japan, the US, and the UK, up from 760,000 tonnes in January, according to ship-bookings information compiled by Clarkson Research Services Ltd, a unit of the world's biggest shipbroker.
At least three tankers were booked to move 180,000 tonnes of unleaded petrol to the US Atlantic coast, the data showed. No US-bound tankers were booked in January.
'Demand in the US is probably the big driver, not particular policy changes in India,' said Seema Desai, a London-based analyst at Eurasia Group.
Japan, the world's second-biggest oil importer after the US, was the largest destination of India's fuel exports, receiving at least 10 tankers that carried 405,000 tonnes of fuel so far this month. Japan received 445,000 tonnes of fuel from India in January.
This month's fuel exports from India's west coast are still lower than last February, when 1.3 million tonnes of oil products were exported.
Mumbai-based Reliance, India's biggest non-state company, started an export-oriented 580,000-barrel-a-day refinery in December 2008. It is next to an older plant that can process 660,000 barrels a day. Together, they make up the largest refining complex in the world, according to Reliance.
Manoj Warrier, a Reliance spokesman, didn't respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. Alok Agarwal, Reliance's chief financial officer, said in a statement in January that about 57 per cent of the company's refined output is for exports.
Reliance in 2009 became one of the top 10 charterers of Aframax tankers to ship petroleum products, according to a report released by Poten & Partners, a shipbroker. Aframaxes can carry 637,500 to 1.02 million barrels of fuels.
The US imported 3.39 million barrels of oil products in the week ended Feb 5, the highest level since Feb 27, 2009, according to Department of Energy data. Imports fell to 2.35 million barrels a day in the week ended Feb 12.
Source : business-times.asia1.com.sg