NEW DELHI:
Fuel consumption
increased by
6.1%
year-on-year in
April
, as per the latest data released by the
petroleum planning and analysis cell
of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Total consumption in April increased to 19.86 million metric tons or 4.85 million barrels per day from 18.71 million tons last year. However, the demand in April declined by 5.8% from March this year.
Consumption of Diesel rose by 1.4% YoY to 7.93 million tons in April whereas petrol sales were at 3.28 million tons, marking an increase of 14% from a year ago. LPG sales were up by 3.9% to about 1.16 million tons whereas Fuel oil use decreased by more than 16%. Bitumen, used for constructing roads fell by over 5%.
“The rise in total fuel consumption in April can be attributed to the increased activity in the run up to elections across the country. We expect Indian fuel demand to grow by 3%-4%, with the GDP set to grow. The bulk of the rise will be lead by petrol and diesel demand. Air travel in India also has shown good growth,” said Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head, corporate ratings at ICRA.
