India’s Fuel Demand up 10 Percent in September

In this file photo, a man climbs an an oil tanker parked outside a fuel depot in Mumbai. (Photo: Reuters/ Danish Siddiqui)

New Delhi: India’s fuel demand surged 9.9 percent in September, the biggest expansion in more than one year, after petrol and diesel consumption soared.

The world’s fastest growing oil consumer used 16.25 million tonnes of petroleum products in September as compared to 14.78 MT in the same period a year ago, according to data released by the oil ministry.

The growth was the highest since August 2016, when demand had jumped 18.2 percent. The rise comes on the back of a 6.1 percent drop in demand in August 2017, the most since April 2003, as floods ravaged several parts of the country curbing demand for diesel and petrol.

India, which International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts will be the fastest-growing consumer through 2040, has seen its oil demand fall in four out of eight months this year. The nation imports 81 percent of its oil needs.

Diesel sales in September surged 16.5 percent to 6.08 MT while petrol consumption jumped 17.85 percent to 2.14 MT. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 3.8 percent to 1.94 MT. ATF or jet fuel demand soared 7.1 percent to 615,000 tonnes.

While naphtha sales surged 4.9 percent to 1.16 million tonnes, consumption of bitumen, used for making roads, was up 7.5 percent to 287,000 tonnes.