India’s fuel demand hit a three-year high in March, with petrol sales hitting an all-time peak as supply surged in market prices, despite the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery outlook remains promising Has happened.
consumption of fuelAccording to April 9 data from the country’s oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, a proxy for oil demand, rose 4.2% to 19.41 million tonnes from the same month last year, the highest since March 2019 .
“March oil demand was strongly supported by stockpiling activity/hoarding in anticipation of a month-end increase in petrol and diesel prices,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Stanovo.
Preliminary data this month showed Indian state refiners’ gasoil and gasoline sales rose in March on rising demand from dealers and consumers ahead of an expected sharp rise in retail prices after elections in key states.
“So this (higher prices) will likely weigh on demand prospects in the near term, but with the economy still expanding, oil demand is likely to continue to improve in the coming months,” Stonovo said.
Petrol or petrol sales were up 6.2% from 2.91 million tonnes a year ago, the highest ever as per 1998 figures.
To cushion the rising cost of oil imports, India has turned to Russian barrels that are available at a steep discount, citing “national interests”.
As of last week, Indian refiners have bought at least 16 million barrels of cheaper Russian oil for May loading, the same as purchases for the whole of 2021, according to Reuters calculations.
“Russian oil imports have kept India’s economy on track, which is emerging from its pandemic slowdown,” said Jeffrey Healy, chief market analyst at OANDA.
Domestic Sales (in million tonnes):
2022 2022 2022 2021 2021 2021
March February January March February January
Diesel 7.71 6.51 6.37 7.23 6.57 6.81
Petrol 2.91 2.55 2.47 2.74 2.47 2.61
LPG 2.48 2.40 2.57 2.26 2.26 2.49
Naphtha 1.11 1.19 1.29 1.28 1.22 1.21
Jet Fuel 0.54 0.43 0.46 0.47 0.43 0.44
Kerosene 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.16 0.14 0.15
Fuel Oil 0.58 0.52 0.54 0.51 0.48 0.52
Bitumen 0.90 0.88 0.81 1.01 0.85 0.82
Total 19.41 17.58 17.62 18.63 16.67 17.64
note, The total figures may not match because not all items are included in the table, and the numbers are rounded. The number of previous months can be modified.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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