'India needs to increase strategic oil reserves'
The country needs to increase its strategic reserves and also strengthen oil diplomacy with both oil producing and consuming nations to make its presence felt in the global market for petroleum products.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: The country needs to increase its strategic reserves and also strengthen oil diplomacy with both oil producing and consuming nations to make its presence felt in the global market for petroleum products.
This was stated by the Export Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) in its study "Indian Petroleum Products Industry - Opportunities and Challenges".
The Bank said the Indian petroleum products industry will also have to integrate existing refineries, with forward and backward linkages, expand infrastructure facilities for faster transport, augment refining capacities and improve quality of products by increasing research activities.
The Bank pointed out that the country's petroleum products industry has a lot of potential for expanding in other Asian markets.
"A lot of potential exists for expanding our presence in other Asian markets, as India has a unique advantage of economies of scale and capabilities of producing niche products for these markets," EXIM Bank said.
The country holds more than one per cent market share in major petroleum products importing countries such as Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Belgium and Korea.
"The share of Indian petroleum products industry in Singapore is as high as 10 per cent," the Bank said.
India is the sixth largest producer of petroleum products with 118 million tonnes of production in 2004-05. The increasing production has positioned India as a net exporter of petroleum products since 2001-02.
The country exported $6.8 billion worth of petroleum products during 2004-05. The share of petroleum products in the country's total exports has also increased from 4.29 per cent in 2000-01 to 8.57 per cent in 2004-05.
Middle distillates comprising kerosene, aviation turbine fuel, high-speed diesel oil and light diesel oil form the major part of exports.
The study also pointed out that price volatility of crude oil, supply disruptions and imparting capital intensive technology hinders the growth of exports from the industry.
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