New Delhi,dec 29
India is ending 2024 with its oil demand growth rate surpassing neighbouring China’s, a trend expected to spill over to the next year, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. India has become one of the fastest-growing fuel consumption centres.As per the global commodities information services provider, the increasing fuel consumption is prompting India’s refiners to accelerate expansion plans and widen crude sourcing.
Oil players are increasingly turning their focus to India amid expectations of its peak demand scenario coming much later than that of China’s, according to the latest commentary on India’s oil sector by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
“India will be the leading driver, along with Southeast Asia and other parts of South Asia, of the region’s future oil demand growth,” said Kang Wu, global head of macro and oil demand research at S&P Global Commodity Insights.”In 2025, India is forecast to deliver a relatively faster growth in oil demand of 3.2 per cent, compared with China’s 1.7 per cent,” Wu added.In the first 10 months of 2024, China’s oil demand rose 148,000 barrels per day or 0.9 per cent year-over-year, lagging India’s 180,000 barrels per day or 3.2 per cent year-over-year growth, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.In that context, it is believed that India will see significant refining capacity growth in 2025. As India’s refining capacity is set to rise, refiners and policymakers are intensifying efforts to diversify the crude import basket — to reduce overdependence on a few supplying countries or regions.
