India’s fuel consumption in June fell by 4.7 per cent month on month to 20.31 million metric tons, oil ministry data showed on Monday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
India is the world’s third-largest consumer and importer of oil. The data is a proxy for the country’s oil demand.
BY THE NUMBERS
On a yearly basis, fuel demand in June was up 1.9 per cent from 19.94 million tons last year, but was down 4.7 per cent on a month-on-month basis, data on the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell’s website showed.
Sales of gasoline, or petrol, fell 6.9 per cent to 3.52 million tons in June, compared with 3.78 million tons in May, but were up 6.7 per cent from levels seen a year ago. Diesel consumption was up 1.6 per cent on a yearly basis and totaled 8.11 million metric tons in June.
Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales decreased 4.9 per cent to 2.53 million metric tons month on month, while naphtha sales rose 3 per cent to 1.03 million metric tons. On a yearly basis, LPG and naphtha sales rose 9.1 per cent and about 2%, respectively.
Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 16 per cent lower in June, in comparison with May.
KEY QUOTE
“Due to the seasonality in Indian demand – demand falls during the monsoon season – June demand is lower than May. Normally demand is trending seasonally lower until August/September,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
CONTEXT
India’s services sector enjoyed its strongest growth in ten months in June, fuelled by robust demand and cooling price pressures, a survey showed on Thursday. India will take measures to safeguard domestic fuel supplies, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last month, after U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites raised the risk of disruption of Middle Eastern oil and gas and soaring energy prices.
