India

India's oil position in numbers

India is a large consumer with modest domestic output and a refining industry built to process imported crude. In the fiscal year from April 2025 to March 2026, the country imported 246.6 million tonnes of crude oil, produced 28.0 million tonnes of crude and condensate at home, and processed 272.1 million tonnes in its refineries, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (Snapshot of India's Oil and Gas Data, October 2026, checked October 2026). Using the PPAC's conversion of 7.33 barrels per tonne, imports were about 4.95 million barrels per day (b/d), domestic output about 0.56 million b/d, and refinery runs about 5.46 million b/d. PPAC puts India's import dependency for crude, measured against consumption, at 88.7 percent in FY 2025-26.

The PPAC works in million metric tonnes (MMT) and fiscal years that start in April. This page keeps those units in the tables and converts to barrels per day where that helps comparison with other countries. Our explainer on barrels, tonnes and conversion factors covers why a tonne of crude is not a fixed number of barrels.

The balance sheet: one year, start to finish

Item, FY 2025-26	Million tonnes	Approx. million b/d
Crude oil and condensate produced in India	28.0	0.56
Crude oil imported	246.6	4.95
Crude oil processed by refineries	272.1	5.46
Petroleum products produced	284.8	n/a
Petroleum products consumed in India	241.6	n/a
Petroleum products imported	46.8	n/a
Petroleum products exported	61.5	n/a

Source: PPAC Snapshot, October 2026, tables 2, 5 and 6 (provisional), checked October 2026. Barrels per day computed by PetroEyes at 7.33 barrels per tonne; product tonnes are not converted because product densities differ.

Two features stand out. First, product output exceeds domestic consumption, so India is a net exporter of refined fuels even while it imports nearly nine-tenths of its crude. Second, the gap between production and consumption is not uniform across products. The PPAC's product table shows a surplus of diesel (high-speed diesel production of 120.8 MMT against consumption of 94.7 MMT) and petrol (49.8 MMT against 42.6 MMT), but a deficit of liquefied petroleum gas (13.1 MMT produced, 33.2 MMT consumed), which means about 60 percent of LPG demand is met from imports.

Product by product: where the surplus and the gaps are

Product, FY 2025-26	Production (MMT)	Consumption (MMT)	Balance
High-speed diesel	120.8	94.7	surplus 26.1
Petrol (motor spirit)	49.8	42.6	surplus 7.2
Naphtha	18.4	11.7	surplus 6.7
Jet fuel (ATF)	16.4	9.2	surplus 7.2
Fuel oil and LSHS	10.6	6.4	surplus 4.2
LPG	13.1	33.2	deficit 20.1
Petroleum coke	14.8	18.4	deficit 3.6
Bitumen	5.4	8.7	deficit 3.3
Lubricants	1.5	5.0	deficit 3.5

Source: PPAC Snapshot, October 2026, table 11, checked October 2026. Balance computed by PetroEyes; it is not the same as net trade, because stock changes and product reclassification also matter.

The pattern is typical of a refining system configured for transport fuels. Indian refineries make more diesel, petrol and jet fuel than the country uses, and the surplus is exported, while LPG, which comes partly from gas processing rather than crude refining, is mostly imported. When analysts describe India as an "export refiner", this table is the evidence: about a fifth of diesel output is surplus to domestic demand.

Domestic production: steady decline from a small base

Fiscal year	Crude oil and condensate (MMT)
2020-21	30.5
2021-22	29.7
2022-23	29.2
2023-24	29.4
2024-25	28.7
2025-26	28.0

Source: PPAC Ready Reckoner FY 2025-26, selected indicators table, checked October 2026.

Output has fallen about 8 percent in five years. In FY 2025-26, crude alone was 26.0 MMT and condensate 2.0 MMT. Production in the first half of FY 2026-27 (April to September 2026) was 13.7 MMT, slightly below the 14.2 MMT of the same months a year earlier.

Who produces India's oil

The PPAC's share chart for April to September 2026 attributes about 71.7 percent of crude and condensate output to ONGC, 14.4 percent to Oil India, 3.8 percent to Vedanta, 3.2 percent to CEHL, 2.4 percent to Reliance and 1.8 percent to Sun Petrochemicals. State-owned companies therefore produce more than 85 percent of domestic crude.

The contract regime tells a related story. In FY 2025-26, 21.2 MMT, about three-quarters of output, came from nomination fields, the blocks awarded to ONGC and Oil India without competitive bidding before the licensing rounds began. Pre-NELP fields contributed 3.7 MMT and NELP fields 2.94 MMT, while discovered small fields and open-acreage (OALP) blocks together produced only about 0.05 MMT. Two decades of licensing rounds have not yet changed where most Indian oil comes from.

Reserves and the domestic horizon

The Ministry's physical asset account, reproduced in the PPAC Ready Reckoner, put crude reserves in the proved-plus-probable (2P) category at 3,101 million barrels at the end of FY 2024-25, after extraction of 210 million barrels in the year and upward appraisals of 117 million barrels (PPAC Ready Reckoner FY 2025-26, table 2.11, checked October 2026). Dividing 3,101 by 210 gives about 14.8 years at that extraction rate. Note the category: 2P includes probable reserves, so this figure is not comparable with proved-only reserve lives quoted for other countries.

Indian companies also produce abroad. The PPAC reports overseas oil and gas output by Indian companies of 19.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent in FY 2025-26, against 62.7 million tonnes of oil and gas produced inside India.

Imports: volume, value and the price lever

Fiscal year	Crude imports (MMT)	Million barrels	Value (USD million)	Approx. USD per barrel
2018-19	226.5	1,660.2	111,915	67.41
2019-20	227.0	1,663.6	101,376	60.94
2020-21	196.5	1,440.1	62,248	43.23
2021-22	212.4	1,556.8	120,675	77.52
2022-23	232.7	1,705.7	157,531	92.36
2023-24	234.3	1,717.1	133,366	77.67
2024-25	243.2	1,782.8	137,174	76.94
2025-26	245.8	1,801.5	123,379	68.49

Source: PPAC Ready Reckoner FY 2025-26, table 8.24, checked October 2026. The October 2026 Snapshot revises FY 2025-26 to 246.6 MMT and USD 125,833 million.

Import volume rose about 8.5 percent between FY 2018-19 and FY 2025-26, while the bill moved mostly with price: the highest bill in the table, FY 2022-23, came with an average near USD 92 per barrel, not with the highest volume. The Ready Reckoner says India widened its crude sourcing from 27 to 41 countries, which spreads geographic risk but does not change the dependence on price.

Worked example: what USD 10 a barrel means for India

Using the FY 2025-26 import volume of 1,801.5 million barrels from the table:

• A USD 10 per barrel increase in the average import price adds about USD 18.0 billion to the annual crude import bill (1,801.5 million x USD 10).
• That is about 15 percent of the FY 2025-26 bill of USD 123.4 billion.

The 2026 price environment made this sensitivity concrete. The PPAC reports that the Indian crude basket averaged USD 116.09 per barrel in September 2026, against USD 69.61 in September 2025, and that Brent averaged USD 116.77. In September 2026 India imported 21.7 MMT of crude for USD 15.4 billion. At 7.33 barrels per tonne that is about 159 million barrels, an implied average of roughly USD 97 per barrel, well below the month's basket average. The difference is mostly timing: import values are recorded when cargoes arrive and clear customs, often priced weeks earlier, so the import bill lags spot prices in a fast-rising market.

Refining: capacity, ownership and the Jamnagar weight

India's installed refining capacity on April 1, 2026 was 267.1 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA), about 5.35 million b/d, spread across more than twenty refineries. The PPAC's refinery table gives the main owners:

Company or site	Installed capacity, April 1, 2026 (MMTPA)
Reliance, Jamnagar (two refineries: DTA 33.0 and SEZ 35.2)	68.2
Indian Oil Corporation (nine refineries)	70.3
Bharat Petroleum (Mumbai, Kochi, Bina)	35.3
Hindustan Petroleum (Mumbai, Visakh)	24.5
Nayara Energy, Vadinar	20.0
MRPL, Mangalore (ONGC group)	15.0
HMEL, Bathinda	11.3
Chennai Petroleum (Manali)	10.5
HRRL, Pachpadra (commissioned FY 2026-27)	9.0
Numaligarh	3.0

Source: PPAC Snapshot, October 2026, table 8, checked October 2026.

The two Jamnagar refineries together account for about 25.5 percent of national capacity, and Reliance's private refineries plus Nayara's Vadinar plant processed a substantial share of the crude the country imported. In September 2026, private refiners processed 7.8 MMT of the month's 23.0 MMT of crude runs, or about 34 percent. The PPAC also notes that 78.7 percent of the crude processed in FY 2025-26 was high-sulphur crude, which reflects the configuration of Indian plants: many are built to handle heavier, sourer grades that often sell at a discount to light sweet benchmarks.

Capacity is still growing. The Ready Reckoner says the 9 MMTPA Barmer refinery (HRRL) has achieved commercial operations and that the Numaligarh expansion to 9 MMTPA is due for completion by December 2026. For how refinery profits are measured, see our guide to crack spreads.

One caution when reading these tables: PPAC data show some refineries processing more crude in a year than their listed capacity, for example 272.0 MMT of total runs in FY 2025-26 against 267.1 MMTPA of capacity listed at the start of FY 2026-27. Nameplate capacity, debottlenecking and the inclusion of other feedstocks make utilization above 100 percent possible on paper, so treat capacity as a reference, not a ceiling.

Demand: diesel first, and a soft 2026

Consumption of petroleum products was 241.6 MMT in FY 2025-26. Diesel (high-speed diesel) is the largest product at 94.7 MMT, about 39 percent of the total, followed by petrol at 42.6 MMT and LPG at 33.2 MMT. Diesel's weight reflects freight, farming and buses, which is why diesel prices are a political variable in India; our diesel price explainer covers the global market behind it.

The first half of FY 2026-27 broke the growth trend. From April to September 2026, product consumption was 114.8 MMT, 3.3 percent lower than the 118.7 MMT of the same months in 2025. The PPAC attributes the drop to lower LPG, naphtha, bitumen and petcoke use, while diesel grew 4.9 percent and petrol 7.1 percent. September 2026 alone showed growth of 3.4 percent on the year.

In calendar terms, the Energy Institute data reproduced by the PPAC put India's 2025 oil consumption at about 5.6 million b/d, third in the world after the United States (19.4 million b/d) and China (17.4 million b/d). India's demand profile, heavy in diesel and LPG and still growing in road fuels, differs from China's, where the mix and the growth drivers are different; see our China country page for that comparison.

Taxes and retail prices: the Delhi build-up

The PPAC publishes how the Delhi pump price is built. For October 1, 2026:

Component (Rs per litre)	Petrol	Diesel
Price charged to dealers, excluding VAT (includes central excise)	81.12	78.30
Dealer commission (average)	4.41	2.99
VAT, including VAT on dealer commission	16.59	13.91
Retail selling price	102.12	95.20
Of which central excise duty	11.90	7.80

Source: PPAC Snapshot, October 2026, table 25; excise breakdown from PPAC Ready Reckoner table 8.6 (as on July 1, 2026), checked October 2026.

Worked example: how much of a litre is tax

For petrol in Delhi, central excise of Rs 11.90 plus Delhi VAT of Rs 16.59 is Rs 28.49, or about 27.9 percent of the Rs 102.12 retail price. For diesel, Rs 7.80 plus Rs 13.91 is Rs 21.71, about 22.8 percent of Rs 95.20. The central excise on petrol is itself a stack of four levies: basic duty of Rs 1.40, a road and infrastructure cess of Rs 5.00, a special additional excise duty of Rs 3.00 and an agriculture infrastructure and development cess of Rs 2.50. VAT differs by state, so the same calculation in another state capital will give a different share. Because both excise and VAT are fixed or partly fixed per litre, the tax share falls when crude prices rise and the pre-tax cost of fuel grows.

Gas, ethanol and the strategic reserve

• Natural gas. India produced 34,776 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) of gas in FY 2025-26 and consumed 68,753 MMSCM, importing 34,427 MMSCM as LNG. Roughly half of gas supply is imported.
• Ethanol. The PPAC reports that ethanol blending in petrol averaged 20 percent in the ethanol supply year from November 2025, meeting the national E20 target. Blending displaces some petrol demand but not diesel.
• Strategic reserve. The Ready Reckoner notes a Union Budget allocation of Rs 5,597 crore to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd for Phase II storage. For how drawdowns from strategic stocks work in practice, see our SPR depletion explainer.

Getting crude to refineries

Because most crude arrives by sea, the logistics chain runs from coastal import terminals to inland refineries. The PPAC lists a crude oil pipeline network of 10,443 km with a combined capacity of 163.1 MMTPA as of October 1, 2026, operated mainly by Indian Oil, ONGC, Oil India, Cairn, HMEL and BPCL, plus a 24,864 km product pipeline network. Coastal refineries such as Jamnagar, Vadinar, Paradip, Kochi, Mangalore and Visakhapatnam take crude directly from tankers; inland plants such as Panipat, Mathura, Bathinda and Bina depend on pipelines from western-coast terminals. Domestic crude is a small share of the feed: indigenous crude processed was 25.7 MMT in FY 2025-26, about 9 percent of total runs.

How to read the PPAC monthly snapshot

For readers who want to follow India month by month, the PPAC's Snapshot (also called the Monthly Ready Reckoner) is the primary source, published a few weeks after the month ends. Four checks make it easier to use:

1. Start with the highlights page. It gives crude production, crude processed, imports, the import bill and product consumption for the month, with year-on-year changes.
2. Watch the fiscal-year cumulative column. Single months are noisy because of refinery maintenance and cargo timing; the April-to-date column is steadier.
3. Note what is prorated. Recent private-sector imports and some LNG data are estimated and marked as prorated, and are revised later.
4. Compare the import bill with the basket price. A gap between the implied import price and the Indian basket, as in September 2026, usually signals pricing lags rather than a discount.

Edge cases and limits

• Fiscal years. PPAC tables use April to March years. Calendar-year figures from international sources will not match exactly.
• Provisional data. Recent months are marked provisional, and annual totals are revised; the FY 2025-26 import figure differs between the Ready Reckoner (245.8 MMT) and the October 2026 Snapshot (246.6 MMT).
• Tonnes to barrels. The 7.33 conversion is an average. Lighter crudes have more barrels per tonne, so barrel figures here are approximate.
• 2P reserves. The 3,101 million barrel figure includes probable reserves and is not a proved-reserve number.
• Prices. Retail prices and tax rates change by notification; the Delhi build-up applies to the date shown.

Frequently asked questions

How much oil does India import?

In FY 2025-26, India imported 246.6 million tonnes of crude, about 4.95 million barrels per day, worth about USD 125.8 billion, according to the PPAC's October 2026 Snapshot. Import dependency for crude, against consumption, was 88.7 percent.

How much oil does India produce?

Domestic crude and condensate output was 28.0 million tonnes in FY 2025-26, about 0.56 million b/d, down from 30.5 million tonnes in FY 2020-21. ONGC produces about seven-tenths of it.

What is India's refining capacity?

Installed capacity was 267.1 million tonnes per annum on April 1, 2026, about 5.35 million b/d. Reliance's two Jamnagar refineries total 68.2 MMTPA, about a quarter of the national figure.

Is India a net exporter of petroleum products?

Yes. In FY 2025-26 it exported 61.5 million tonnes of products and imported 46.8 million tonnes. It is a net exporter of diesel and petrol but imports most of its LPG.

How much of the petrol price in Delhi is tax?

On October 1, 2026, central excise (Rs 11.90) and Delhi VAT (Rs 16.59) were about 28 percent of the Rs 102.12 retail price of a litre of petrol.

Is India part of OPEC+?

No. India is a consumer and importer, not a member of OPEC or OPEC+. Group production decisions affect it through prices; our OPEC+ explainer covers how those decisions are made.

Sources

• Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Snapshot of India's Oil and Gas Data, October 2026 (data for September 2026), checked October 2026.
• PPAC, Ready Reckoner FY 2025-26, checked October 2026. World consumption figures in the Ready Reckoner are Energy Institute data as reproduced by PPAC.
• PPAC home and data pages: ppac.gov.in, checked October 2026.

This page is educational market research, not investment advice.