India’s fuel consumption increased by 6.1% year-on-year in April, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the oil ministry. The country is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, and the data is seen as a proxy for its oil demand.
Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head of corporate ratings at ICRA, attributed the rise in fuel consumption to increased activity in the run-up to elections across the country. He expects Indian fuel demand to grow by 3%-4% this year, with the bulk of the increase coming from higher petrol and diesel demand. Air travel in India has also shown good growth.
Total fuel consumption in April reached 19.86 million metric tons (4.85 million barrels per day), up from 18.71 million tons last year. However, it was down 5.8% on a monthly basis from the 21.09 million metric tons consumed in March.
Diesel sales, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 7.93 million tons in April. Gasoline sales in April increased by 14% from the previous year to 3.28 million tons.
Demand for bitumen, used for making roads, fell by over 5% annually. Cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas sales, rose by nearly 10% to 2.36 million tons, while naphtha sales gained by 3.9% to about 1.16 million tons, compared with last April. Fuel oil use decreased by more than 16% year-on-year in April.