India has one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated petroleum refining sectors, serving as a critical refining hub for global markets. Although the country imports over 85% of its crude oil requirements, it maintains significant surplus refining capacity and exports approximately 25% of its total refined petroleum output.
Oil refineries in India are operated by government-owned (or partially owned) ‘public-sector undertakings’ or PSUs such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum though the largest refinery in India by installed capacity is owned by a non-government business Reliance Petroleum Ltd. India’s exports of refinery products exceeded $25 billion in 2009
The principle categories of products exported by India include motor spirit (MS, Mogas in the US) and Naptha/NGL in the light distillates category, high speed diesel/light diesel oil (HSD/LDO) and ATF in the middle distillates category and furnace oil/low sulfur heavy stock (FO/LSHS) in the heavy end category.
Last updated: August 3rd, 2026
