India’s Refineries Run at Up to 108% as Diesel Demand Surges

India’s refinery sector has been pushed into sustained overdrive, with utilization rates around 105%–108% during the past six months as diesel consumption climbs and international fuel supplies tighten, MRPL officials said at the APPEC petroleum conference in Singapore. The remarks, attributed to MRPL director Nandakumar Pillai and carried by Reuters, reflect a broader industry shift toward maximizing output to meet domestic demand. MRPL highlighted the flexibility of its coastal Karnataka refinery, which can process about 300,000 barrels per day and handle a wide spectrum of crude qualities — an API gravity range the company said extends roughly from the mid-teens up to the mid-40s. That complexity allows Indian refiners to blend different crudes and lean on secondary processing units to boost middle-distillate yields. Across India, refiners are favouring diesel production even if it means producing less jet fuel, citing soaring local diesel demand and a squeeze in global middle-distillate availability. Traders and analysts point to constrained supplies from the Middle East and Russia — including impacts from recent escalations in the region, a Russian diesel export ban and damage to Russian refining capacity from drone strikes in Ukraine — as drivers of record-high diesel cracks. MRPL told Reuters it expects to keep runs above 100% through March 2027 as tightness persists. Market observers have warned that fuels such as diesel, rather than crude oil alone, are the key stress point for current oil markets, with implications for prices and supply chains both within India and internationally. (Reporting compiled from Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com; MRPL comments as carried by Reuters.)