India’s crude oil imports in November rose to the highest level in 10 months as refiners stocked up to deliver strong demand in the world’s third-largest oil consumer and importer. Crude oil imports last month advanced to 7.5 per cent versus October and were 0.5 per cent higher than a year ago at 18.37 million tonnes, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed.

The high imports was due to India’s crude processing hitting its highest level since February 2020 in the same month as the refiners worked at the total capacity to increase the demand. The shares of Middle Eastern Oil in India’s crude imports grew to a 16-month high. Reliance Industries also imported 6 per cent more oil in November at about 1.24 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, Oil product imports declined 26.6 per cent to 3.49 million tonnes from a year earlier, while exports jumped 26.8 per cent.