The demand for petroleum fuels has declined in India due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. The data released by the union government has showed that the fuel demand in the country has declined by 45.8% in April from a year earlier. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 9.93 million tonnes – its lowest since 2007.
Consumption of diesel was down about 55.6% year-over-year at 3.25 million tonnes. Sales of petrol, dropped by 60.6% from a year earlier to 0.97 million tonnes. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales rose about 12.1% to 2.13 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell 9.5% to 0.86 million tonnes. Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, slumped 71%, while fuel oil use dipped 40% in April.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest report said India’s annual fuel consumption will decline 5.6% in 2020 compared with growth of 2.4% forecast in its March report.
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