Fuel demand in January rises 3.2% to 20.49 million tonnes

India’s January fuel consumption hit its lowest monthly level since October, but was up 3.2 per cent year-on-year at 20.49 million metric tonnes, according to oil ministry data. India is the world’s third-largest consumer and importer of oil. The data is a proxy for the country’s oil demand. On a monthly basis, January fuel demand was its lowest since October, down more than 1 per cent from 20.73 million tons in December, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell’s (PPAC) website shows. Sales of gasoline, or petrol, eased 0.3 per cent compared to last month at 3.3 million tons. 

Diesel consumption fell nearly 4 per cent month-on-month to 7.7 million tons in January. It was up 4.3 per cent year-on-year.  Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 5.2 per cent on an annual basis to 2.84 million tons, while naphtha sales fell 12.2 per cent compared with last year to 1.15 million tons. On a monthly basis, LPG and naphtha sales rose 2.16 per cent and 7.48 per cent respectively.