ASIA: Petroleum exports to touch $497 Bn by 2012

Export of petroleum products from India is likely to reach $497.01 billion within the next five years, said a study by industry body Assocham. It said exports of petroleum products are growing at a faster rate than imports.

Petroleum products exported by India have been growing at an astonishing rate of 73 percent for the past three years, according to "Petroleum Trade", a study done by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

"Petroleum exports were valued at $0.03 billion in 1999-2000, which increased to $18.53 billion in fiscal 2006-07, growing at a compound annual rate of 96.5 percent. Imports on the other hand, increased from $12.6 billion in 1999-2000 to $57 billion in 2006-07," Venugopal Dhoot, president, Assocham said in a statement.

"Even as energy requirements of Indian economy are rapidly increasing, capacity expansion of public- and private-sector refineries would help maintain the growth momentum of exports of petroleum products," he added.

The study also indicated that the growth rate of petroleum imports had been declining over the past two years. It grew by 29.7 percent in 2006-07 compared with a growth of 47 percent the previous year.

The growth in imports, Assocham said, had been partly on account of the appreciating rupee, which increased by about 10 percent since March this year. The production of petroleum products increased by 50 percent during the same period from 79,411,000 tonnes to 119,750,000 tonnes, Assocham said.

Export of petroleum, oil and lubricants from Asia rose to $6.8 billion in 2006-07 from $4.3 billion in 2005-06. Within Asia, countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Japan are major oil products importing countries from India with exports worth $0.69 billion, $0.55 billion, $0.42 million, respectively, in fiscal 2006-07.