Diesel demand lags as petrol demand continues to increase in August

The fuel demand recovery in India remained uneven in August as the consumption of petrol constantly increased, but diesel sales fell, as shown by the preliminary data from state fuel retailers on Wednesday. Fuel retailers owned by the State sold 2.43 million tonne (mt) petrol in August, which is 13.6% more than a year ago. This is 4.1% higher than petrol sales of 2.33 million tonnes in August 2019 during pre-covid. The most used fuel in the country, diesel sales increased by 15.9% to 4.94 mt during August 2021 over the previous year but was down 9.8% from August 2019. During August, the diesel sale was 9.3% lower than the previous month, primarily because of lower mobility due to the monsoon. Consumption of Diesel was 8% lower in the first half of August than pre-covid levels. The fuel demand had almost recovered in March before the outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19 infections, which led to the reimposition of lockdown in different states, muting economic activity and stalling mobility. IOCL Chairman S M Vaidya told the media on July 30 that the petrol consumption has increased over pre-Covid levels as people prefer personal transport over public transport. He said that ATF consumption would most probably return to normal by the end of the current fiscal year in March. It has witnessed the most severe fall as air travel was restricted beginning March 2020. LPG fuel consumption, which is the only fuel that showed growth even during the first lockdown because of free supplies the government provided to the poor, increased by 1.85% every year to 2.32 mt in August. It was 2.4% lower than August 2019. Image Source