India's fuel demand jumps 11% in August

New Delhi: India’s fuel demand soared almost 11 per cent in August when compared with the same month last year but lower than the previous month as monsoon rains slowed mobility and consumption.

Fuel consumption totalled 16 million tonnes in August, up from 14.42 million tonnes a year back but lower than 16.83 million tonnes in July 2021, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPA) of the Oil Ministry showed.

Sales of petrol, which had reached pre-Covid levels a couple of months back, rose 13 per cent year-on-year to 2.69 million tonnes and was up 2.5 per cent over July 2021.

Consumption of diesel - the most used



fuel in the country - jumped 15.6 per cent to 5.6 million tonnes from a year earlier but fell 8.7 per cent from the previous month as monsoon rains stalled the mobility of trucks.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 2.4 per cent to 2.3 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 5.1 per cent to 1.02 million tonnes.

LPG sales fell 1.6 per cent month-on-month.Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 3.1 per cent up, while fuel oil use edged up 8 per cent in August. Naphtha demand at 1.02 million tonnes was 5 per cent lower than a year back and 16 per cent lower than July 2021.