India’s crude crash as coronavirus chokes fuel demand

New Delhi: India’s crude processing in March fell 5.7% from a year earlier, its biggest drop since September, as the coronavirus crisis and travel restrictions to curb its spread dented fuel demand and forced refineries to cut output.

Refiners processed about 21.20 million tonnes, or 5.01 million barrels per day (bpd), of oil last month, provisional government data showed on Wednesday. That was lower than the 5.32 million bpd processed in February and in March 2019.

Crude production also declined 5.5% in March from a year earlier to around 2.70 million tonnes or 0.64 million bpd.

Many refineries have curbed output with fuel demand hammered by travel restrictions as the pandemic forced people to stay home and stalled economic activity.