Bharat refinery to operate at full capacity in May: Reuters

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - India's Bharat Petroleum Company is to run its 240,000 b/d refinery in Mumbai at full capacity throughout the month despite the country's energy demand being hit due to regional lockdowns, Reuters reported.

Citing a company spokesperson, the news agency said the refinery would run at 100% nameplate capacity to cover for a turnaround at another refinery in the city.

The state of Maharashtra has been in lockdown for over a month to battle a second outbreak of Covid 19.

Many refineries had postponed lockdown plans during the pandemic as turnarounds tend to involve many people working in close proximity.

India's shutdown has had a minimal impact on Asian refining margins, despite it expected to cut demand for oil liquids by up to 900,000 b/d over May.

According to Quantum data, cracks for all major products were either rising or flatlining over the past month as expectation of a return to economic activity in Europe and the US outweighed the anticipated fall in demand from India.