India’s fuel demand up around 5% in FY24, at a record high driven by auto fuel and naphtha sales

India witnessed a slight dip in fuel consumption, falling by 0.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) in March. However, fuel demand for FY24 surged by about 5 percent, primarily led by increased sales of automotive fuel and naphtha, as per a Reuters report.

Preliminary data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed that total fuel consumption, serving as a proxy for oil demand, stood at 21.09 million metric tonnes (4.99 million barrels per day) in March. This marked a decrease from 21.22 million tonnes (5.02 mbpd) recorded in the same period last year.

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Contrastingly, fuel demand for FY24, ending in March, reached a record high of 233.276 million tons (4.67 mbpd). This figure surpassed the previous year's consumption of 223.021 million tons (4.48 mbpd).

Segment Performance

Diesel: Sales of diesel, predominantly utilised by trucks and commercially operated passenger vehicles, saw a 3.1 percent YoY increase in March, reaching 8.04 million tonnes. For the previous fiscal year, diesel sales rose by 4.4 percent.

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Gasoline: March saw a surge of 6.9 percent YoY in gasoline sales, totaling 3.32 million tons. The fiscal year also observed a rise of 6.4 percent in gasoline sales.

Bitumen: Sales of bitumen, essential for road construction, remained largely stable in March but experienced a notable increase of 9.9 percent in FY24.

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Cooking Gas and Naphtha: Cooking gas sales, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), climbed by 8.6 percent to 2.61 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged by 5.5 percent to approximately 1.19 million tonnes compared to last March.

Fuel Oil: Usage of fuel oil saw a decline of 9.7 percent YoY in March and decreased by 6.3 percent for the fiscal year.

(With inputs from Reuters)