New Delhi: India’s diesel exports slipped to a multi-year low in January 2024. As per data released by energy intelligence firm Kpler, the disel exports from India slipped 45% in last mnth. The diesel exports from the country registered a 17-month high in December 2023.
As per data, India shipped around 3,02,000 barrels per day (b/d) of diesel last month. It was at 5,51,000 b/d in December 2023. The clean petroleum product (CPP) exports from India to the US fell to around 47,226 b/d in January 2024 from 85,620 b/d in December 2023. Similarly, cumulative shipments to the UK plus nine countries, including France, Netherlands and Spain, fell to 1,52,010 b/d from 4,25,193 b/d.
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Most refiners and shipping companies are now avoiding the Red Sea route due to attacks by Houthi rebels. This is the reason for the decline in exports. More refiners are avoiding Bab-el-Mandeb that connects Red Sea to Gulf of Aden and accounts for 12 per cent of seaborne crude oil and 8 per cent of LNG trade.
Shipping companies are avoiding the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait. They now frefer Cape of Good Hope and this longer voyages increases diesel cargo cost by USD 850,000-1 million. Due to the rerouting of a voyage through the Cape of Good Hope instead of going through the Suez Canal, shipments from India to the US will take an additional 10-14 days, while shipments from Europe/the Mediterranean will take 20-25 days.
Meanwhile, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) chairman Pushp Kumar Joshi said that the flow of crude oil to India was not impacted by the ongoing attacks on shipping vessels by Houthi militants in the Red Sea.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer. India gets a bulk of its Russian supplies through the Red Sea. Russian supplies made up for over 35 per cent of India’s total crude imports in 2023, amounting to 1.7 million barrels per day.
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