DEMAND FOR DIESEL RISES FIRST TIME THIS YEAR

In a sign of economic revival, the consumption of diesel went up for the first time this financial year during the October 1-15 period. Its demand increased by 8.8 per cent and that of petrol by 1.5 per cent over the same period last year. Among all the petroleum products, only aviation turbine fuel continued to show low demand and fell by 57 per cent.

In a sign of economic revival, the consumption of diesel went up for the first time this financial year during the October 1-15 period. The consumption of diesel increased by 8.8 per cent and that of petrol by 1.5 per cent over the same period last year.

Among all the petroleum products, only aviation turbine fuel continued to show low demand and fell by 57 per cent. I n September, though petrol was up, diesel was down by 6 per cent.

Diesel consumption by all the three oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation — was seen at 2,650 thousand metric tonne (TMT) for the first 15 days of the month, as against 2435 TMT during the same period in October 2019.

On the other hand, petrol consumption was seen at 982 TMT during the period under review, compared to 967 TMT for October 1 to 15 period of the previous financial year.

For liquefied petroleum gas, the consumption figures were seen at 1165 TMT in October so far, versus 1090 TMT during the same time last year, posting an increase of 7 per cent.

A massive dip was seen in ATF consumption as services are yet to normalise. ATF use was seen at 135 TMT for the period compared to 315 TMT during the first 15 days of October last year.

During August 2020, petrol recovered to 92.5 per cent of August 2019 volume by recording a consumption of 2.4 MMT as compared to 2.6 MMT during August 2019, said a report by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

On the other hand, diesel consumption for April — August 2020 recovered to 71.5 per cent of the volume during the same period the previous year.