CHENNAI: It's still flat but at least the curve is turning positive. Refineries across the country processed nearly 2% more crude oil in December 2012 at 18.54 million tonne, up from 18.18 million tonne in November 2012 says a report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The December throughput came very close to the record high monthly level of 18.72 million tonne totted up in October 2012, a month which also saw significant uptick in economic sentiment fuelled by festival demand. "However, the year-on-year growth in throughput in December 2012 was still just 2.5% on account of a high base," said the report. What's more, the last quarter of the current fiscal should see the growth continue. "We expect the refineries to maintain the current throughput level in the remaining three months of 2012-13, backed by a healthy demand in both the domestic and export markets," said the CMIE report. "The refiners are expected to process around 18.5 million tonnes of crude oil in each of the remaining months of fiscal 2012-13. We expect throughput to rise in the range of 3-7% in the remaining three months of 2012-13. For the year 2012-13, throughput is expected to grow by 5.4% to 215.7 million tones," it said. Utilisation levels also improved in December as refiners operated their plants at an average of 102.5%compared to 100.5% in November 2012. "Most refineries reported a rise in throughput in the month. Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector refinery, processed 5.83 million tonne of crude oil in December 2012, at a utilization level of 116% of its refining capacity," said the report. Public sector Indian Oil Corporation, also increased its throughput to 4.79 million tonne, up from 4.76 million tonne in November. As for Bharat Petroleum and Essar Oil, both saw their throughput output go up 0.6% and 3.2% respectively compared to November 2012. Hindustan Petroleum increased its throughput by 21% to 1.53 million tonne from 1.26 million tonne in November.

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