New Delhi: Indian Oil's refineries are currently operating at 93 percent capacity and will be ramped up gradually as the fuel demand reaches pre-COVID levels in a couple of months, said Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Chairman and Managing Director SM Vaidya on Friday. Addressing the press while announcing the Q2 financial results of the oil PSU, Vaidya said, "The lockdown forced by Covid-19 had adversely impacted the sales of all major products, except LPG, during the period April to September 2020. However, sales of major products are now showing recovery."
At the start of the nationwide lockdown in March, refinery capacity utilisation at Indian Oil was at 35 percent. Since then, there was a brief reprieve as unlock began. However, the subsequent lockdowns imposed by state governments held back the growth for fuel demand.
Indian Oil's average refinery capacity utilisation stood at 77 percent in H1 (April-September period) of FY2020-21. In the aftermath of unlock, IOC refineries were operating at 93 percent of their capacity in the first week of July. But it came down to 75 percent as states imposed lockdowns. This affected the average refinery capacity utilisation in the April-September period.
"For the pipeline's division, crude oil and product pipelines utilisation for April to September 2020 was 77 percent and 59 percent. Once again, the current quarter has started on a positive note as the pipeline's capacity utilisation has gone up substantially and is now stabilised at 86 percent," Vaidya said.
The Chairman said that Indian Oil's petrol sale has increased by 2 percent year-on-year in October, while diesel sale has fell by 2.6 percent.
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