India's oil-product exports soar amid refinery shutdowns in Europe

Exports of clean oil-product exports from India jumped to their highest since March 2022 as refinery shutdowns in Europe led to a spike in demand from overseas buyers, including nations in Africa.

Shipments of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from the world’s fourth-largest refiner swelled to 1.5 million barrels a day in September, up about 39% on-year, according to Kpler data.

While India is a major crude-oil importer — where refiners are largely configured to service domestic consumption — private processors also service substantial overseas requirements. Last month, European refiners cut processing due to maintenance and poor margins, limiting local supplies and hitting their exports to Africa.

“The open diesel arbitrage to Europe has been driven by lower supplies due to the region’s planned and unplanned refinery maintenance,” said Serena Huang, head of APAC analysis at Vortexa.

Among flows from India, product exports to Africa hit a a record 380,000 barrels a day, according to Kpler data.