New Delhi: Continuing the recovery after touching a 13-year-low in April in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumption of petroleum products in India went up by 11 percent in June vis-a-vis May, to settle at 16.28 MT (million tonnes). According to data sourced from the PPAC (Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell) of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the overall fuel demand has reached over 92 percent of pre-COVID levels.
The data showed that consumption of diesel stood at 6.3 MT in June, 14.5 percent higher than May, but 15.4 percent lower in comparison to June 2019. The consumption of petrol, on the other hand, settled at 2.28 million tonnes, up by almost 29 percent in comparison to May, but 13.5 percent lower than June 2019. It more than doubled from 9,73,000 tonnes in April, the data showed.
With this figure, demand for diesel has now reached 84.5 percent of normal levels, while petrol has reached 86.4 percent of normal levels. Officials have attributed the rise in demand for petroleum and diesel to an increase in use of private vehicles over public transport. The overall demand is, however, 7.8 percent lower than 17.67 MT consumption in June 2019.
Continuing the upward trend, LPG sales continued to rise on the back of free Ujjwala refills offered by the government to the poor under PMGKY. LPG sales were up 15.7 percent at 2.07 MT. Demand for ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel), on the other hand, fell 65.8 percent year-on-year to 2,22,000 tonnes, as airlines continued to operate at curtailed capacity.
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