India’s fuel consumption declined year-on-year (y-o-y) in March by 0.6% while the demand for the FY24 increased by about 5%, primarily due to higher sales of automotive fuel and naphtha, a recent report said.
The fuel demand for the financial year ending in March 2024 reached a record high of 233.276 million tonnes (4.67 mbpd), up from 223.021 million tonnes (4.48 mbpd) the previous year.
According to a preliminary data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry, the total consumption, a proxy for oil demand, stood at 21.09 million metric tonnes (4.99 million barrels per day) in March.
This was a slight decrease from 21.22 million tonnes (5.02 mbpd) recorded in the same period last year.
As per the report, the diesel sales, primarily used by trucks and commercial passenger vehicles, increased by 3.1% y-o-y to 8.04 million tonnes in March and was up 4.4% for the previous fiscal year.
The sales of gasoline in March grew by 6.9% y-o-y to 3.32 million tonnes and were up 6.4% for this fiscal year. Sales of Bitumen, crucial for road construction, remained largely stable in March but saw a 9.9% rise for this fiscal year.
The report said the sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly known as cooking gas, increased by 8.6% to reach 2.61 million tonnes, and naphtha sales saw a significant rise of 5.5% to about 1.19 million tonnes, compared to the same period last March.
At the same time, the report said the usage of fuel oil experienced a decline of 9.7% y-o-y in March and declined by 6.3% for the fiscal year.