Update: India's fuel demand hits 10-month high in March

India's fuel demand in March hit a 10-month high, rising 9.3% from the previous month to 20.91 MM tonnes (t), oil ministry data showed on Monday.

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 yearly basis, March fuel demand was down 3.1% from 21.57 MMt in the same month last year, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell's website showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, rose 10.6% to 3.5 MMt compared with last month's 3.2 MMt, and were 5.7% higher than a year earlier.

Diesel consumption rose nearly 10% month-on-month to 8.1 MMt in March.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 4.2% on an annual basis to 2.72 MMt, while naphtha sales fell almost 5% compared with last year to 1.08 MMt.

On a monthly basis, LPG and naphtha sales rose 5.8% and nearly 14%, respectively.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 18.4% higher, while fuel oil use ticked up by 1.5% in March, in comparison with February.

India's infrastructure output increased 2.9% year-on-year in February, its slowest pace in five months. India is considering a proposal to scrap import tax on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to boost purchases and help cut the trade surplus with Washington, government and industry sources said.

"Trade tensions might have an impact on oil demand growth, but for now I would still expect Indian oil demand to keep rising unless the world shifts into a recession," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

Related News

From the Archive

Comments