NEW DELHI: Indian refiners’ crude throughput declined by 4.2pc month-on-month in June to 5.41 million barrels per day (22.13 million metric tons), according to provisional government data released on Tuesday.

Refinery throughput in May was at 5.47 million barrels per day (23.11 million metric tons). On a year-on-year basis, refinery throughput fell 0.3 percent.

India’s fuel consumption fell 4.7 percent in June from the previous month to 20.31 million metric tons, oil ministry data showed.

India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer.

“Looking at the last years, refinery runs every year declined from May into June, likely driven by seasonally declining domestic oil demand due to the monsoon,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

Meanwhile, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India is confident of meeting its oil needs from alternative sources if Russian supplies are hit by secondary sanctions.

US President Donald Trump threatened to hit buyers of Russian exports with sanctions unless Russia agrees a peace deal over the conflict in Ukraine, potentially complicating Moscow’s oil sales to China, India and Turkey.

India’s monthly oil imports from Russia in June surged 17.4% to about 2 million barrels per day, data provided by trade sources showed.—Reuters