Oil-product shipments from India are on track to climb to their highest level since September as refiners cash in on robust profit margins after a Russian export ban and hostilities in the Middle East tightened supplies.
The world’s fourth-largest refining hub is set to export about 1.4 million barrels a day of petroleum products in July, about a fifth higher than a year earlier and nearly 50% more than the volume shipped in May, according to Kpler vessel-tracking estimates.
The upsurge in attacks in the Middle East looks set to tighten global fuel supplies, which have already been squeezed after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure prompted Moscow to ban exports.
Processors in India have rushed to capitalize on the tight markets that have pushed global prices for fuels to multi-year highs while competitors from the Middle East, traditionally major exporters of diesel and jet fuel, were hamstrung by the war. Two of the country’s largest refineries, run by Nayara Energy Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd., restarted after planned maintenance while domestic diesel demand was seasonally weak due to the monsoon rains.
