India's fuel consumption grew 3.5 per cent in August and crude oil imports soared 9.7 per cent as refiners imported more crude to export processed products.
Petroleum product demand rose to 9.43 million tonnes in August from 9.11 million tonnes a year ago, according to latest data released by the Petroleum Ministry in New Delhi.
LPG, petrol and ATF consumption continued to show double-digit growth but diesel demand was moderated to 5.7 per cent.
The country, which meets 73 per cent of its crude oil demand through import, bought 1 million tonnes of crude from overseas in August as against 9.16 million tonnes in last year.
Import of petroleum products dipped 5.6 per cent to 1.6 million tonnes while exports saw a robust 7.8 per cent growth to 3.21 million tonnes.
"With refining capacity exceeding the domestic demand, fuel exports will continue," an official said. The main export products are petrol, naphtha, ATF and diesel.
India's crude oil production rose 6.4 per cent to 2.87 million tonnes while refineries produced 8.2 per cent more products at 13.09 million tonnes.
During April-August, fuel consumption rose 3.2 per cent to 50.58 million tonnes as petrol and ATF clocked growth of 11.6 and 14.7 per cent respectively. LPG saw 9.3 per cent growth in demand while diesel was a tad better at 9.4 per cent.
Crude oil import surged 15.4 per cent to 51.88 million tonnes as against 44.97 million tonnes in April-August and oil product exports jumped 35.7 per cent to 16.61 million tonnes.
Domestic crude oil production improved marginally to 14.14 million tonnes from 1 million tonnes last year. Refineries produced 6.3 per cent more products in April-August at 64.66 million tonnes.