據9月25日Oil Monster消息：印度煉油廠加工的原油較上年同期下降26.4％，為四個月以來最高水平，原因是由于病例激增阻礙了工業和運輸活動，燃料需求仍然低迷。

周四公布的政府數據顯示，上個月印度煉油商每天加工382萬桶原油，相當于1615萬噸，較7月下降8.7%。

8月原油吞吐量創下自4月以來最大的同比降幅，而4月降幅為2003年以來最大。

煉油利潤的疲軟和燃料消耗的下滑促使煉油商削減原油加工量并降低產量。

由于冠狀病毒感染的激增繼續抑制經濟活動和運輸，燃料需求出現自上月4月以來的最大月度降幅。

巴克萊大宗商品研究公司在一份報告中表示：“由于病毒在印度的傳播基本沒有減弱，我們已經降低了對印度消費復蘇速度的預期。”

數據顯示，印度煉油商8月產能約占總產能的76.1%，7月為83.3%。

印度最大煉油商印度石油公司(IOC)的直屬工廠產能為66.7％。該公司預計，當地汽油和汽油需求將在2021財年上半年恢復到疫情前水平，并試圖擴大其石化產能以抵消較弱的燃料煉制利潤。

信實集團擁有世界上最大的煉油綜合企業，其工廠的運營能力約為75.8%。

馮娟 摘譯自 Oil Monster

原文如下：

India’s August Crude Processing Drops as Raging Virus Cases Dim Demand

Crude oil processed by Indian refiners slipped 26.4% from a year ago in August, the most in four months, as fuel demand remained subdued on skyrocketing coronavirus cases that hindered industrial and transport activity.

Indian refiners processed 3.82 million barrels per day (bpd) or 16.15 million tonnes of crude last month, 8.7% lower than in July, government data released on Thursday showed.

Crude oil throughput in August recorded its largest year-on-year contraction since April, when it posted its steepest decline since 2003.

Weaker refining margins and a slide in fuel consumption have prompted refiners to cut crude processing and lower output.

Fuel demand posted its biggest monthly decline since April last month, as a surge in coronavirus infections continued to throttle economic activity and transportation. [O/INDIA2]

India has been consistently reporting the world’s highest daily tallies of infections and its 5.7 million coronavirus cases only trail the United States.

“We have pared back our expectations for the pace of consumption recovery in India due to a largely unabated spread of the virus there,” Barclays Commodities Research said in a note earlier this week.

“Virus trends in India have been the most concerning recently, but government restrictions have been slowly easing even there... recovery is likely to be much slower compared to the initial rebound and will likely come through in waves.”

Indian refiners operated at about 76.1% of their overall capacity in August compared to 83.3% in July, the data showed.

Top refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) operated its directly owned plants at 66.7% capacity, as per the data.

The refiner expects local gasoline and gasoil demand to reach pre-pandemic levels in the first half of fiscal 2021 and sought to expand its petrochemical capacity to off-set weaker fuel refining margins.

Reliance, owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, operated its plants at about 75.8% capacity.