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India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) may not export fuel oil for the rest of the fiscal year following a weaker than normal monsoon and a rise in domestic demand for bitumen, Reuters reports.

This year's weaker monsoon has led to a rise in local demand for oil products during a period when there is normally a large drop in electricity usage from utilities and factories, which in turn traditionally leads to a rise in exports of fuel oil.

A number of Indian refineries halted fuel oil exports in late March when production of bitumen was raised to meet rising demand from domestic infrastructure projects.

Exports of fuel oil then resumed in line with the start of the monsoon season, which is between May and July.

However, unlike refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Essar Oil, who have been actively exporting cargoes of fuel oil in recent months, HPCL has as yet not sold anything.

An unnamed company official is reported to have said that if the monsoons continued to elude, the company would not export fuel oil as there had been no lull in construction.

State-owned HPCL currently operates two refineries in Mumbai and Vishakapatnam, which produce a variety of petroleum fuels & specialties. The company also owns and operates the largest lube refinery in India, which accounts for over 40 percent of the country's total lube base oil production.

Last year, HPCL is understood to have exported about 200,000 tonnes of fuel oil.

The company is also the nation's second largest supplier of marine fuels after Indian Oil Corporation and is very active in the marine lubricants market, supplying to customers at all the major Indian ports.

Earlier this month, HPCL was reported to be keen on closing a deal to purchase the downstream assets of Shell New Zealand, which includes the company's marine fuel operations.

HPCL is said to have appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to thrash out a deal to buy the Shell assets, which were put up for sale in May.

Hindustan Petroleum chairman Arun Balakrishnan denied the reports.