Petrol demand continues to rise in Aug, diesel lags

NEW DELHI: India's fuel demand recovery remained patchy in August as petrol consumption continued to rise but diesel sales fell, preliminary data from state fuel retailers showed on Wednesday.

While petrol sales are already above pre-COVID levels, diesel continues to lag. State-owned fuel retailers sold 2.43 million tonne of petrol in August, up 13.6% from the year-ago period.

It was 4.1% higher than preCOVID petrol sales of 2.33 million tonne in August 2019.

Sales of diesel - the most used fuel in the country - rose 15.9% to 4.94 million tonne during August 2021 over the previous year, but was down 9.8% from August 2019.

August diesel sale was also 9.3% lower than the previous month, mostly because of lower mobility due to monsoon. Diesel consumption was 8% lower than pre-Covid levels in first half of August.

Fuel demand had recovered to near-normal levels in March before the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 infections led to the reimposition of lockdown in different states, stalling mobility and muting economic activity.

Consumption in May slumped to its lowest since August last year amid lockdowns and restrictions in several states.

Fuel demand showed signs of resurgence in June after restrictions began to be eased and the economy gathered pace.

On July 30, S M Vaidya, Chairman of India's largest oil firm IOC, had stated that petrol consumption has risen over pre-Covid levels as people prefer personal transport over public transport.