Exhausting product tankage not a cause of concern yet, say oil executives

Demand for petrol and diesel is now at one-third because of the 21-day national lockdown leading to fast filling of product tankage facilities across the country despite production cuts. Oil executives, however, said any extension of the lockdown period — which ends on April 14 — will not be a cause for concern.

Executives add there is room for a further 20 per cent cut at the refinery level, before tankage capacity becomes an issue and running refineries becomes unviable. There is no official word yet on whether the nationwide lockdown will be extended beyond April 14.

“At an industry level, all refineries are running at different throughput levels. There is headroom at the current regulated throughputs, even if there is an extension,” said M K Surana, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).