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NEW DELHI  - India's Bharat Petroleum Corp has deferred a maintenance shutdown of a crude unit at a 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) Mumbai refinery to May as its seeks to gain from strong fuel cracks, two sources aware of the plan said.

India's second-biggest state refiner had plans to shut a 120,000 bpd crude unit and some secondary units including a diesel hydro desulphuriser and a hydrogen generation unit for 20-25 days from the end of this month, they said.

Indian state refiners have not raised pump prices since Nov. 4 despite a surge in global oil and fuel prices.

Rising Asia complex refining margins are nudging companies to boost crude runs and gain from exports to recover some of the losses incurred for selling fuels in the local market.

BPCL did not respond to an email seeking comments.

Previously Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, and Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, had deferred maintenance shutdown of units.