India marked a significant surge in fuel demand in December, hitting a peak not seen in seven months. Data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the oil ministry revealed a consumption of approximately 20.054 million metric tons during this period.
Compared to November's consumption of 18.89 million tons, there was a notable 6.2% uptick in overall fuel usage in December. Furthermore, this figure exhibited a 2.6% increase when juxtaposed with the corresponding period from the previous year.
Diesel sales, primarily utilized by trucks and commercial passenger vehicles, witnessed a moderate 0.9% rise month-on-month, reaching 7.60 million tons. Conversely, gasoline sales experienced a decline of 4.5% in December, dropping to 2.99 million tons from the preceding month.
In December, sales of cooking gas, also known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), went up by 3.9% to reach 2.58 million tonnes. Additionally, sales of naphtha saw a slight increase of 0.5% to reach 1.11 million tonnes during the same period.
Recent data from Indian automakers demonstrated an increase in sports utility vehicle sales but a decrease in small car purchases, despite substantial discounts offered.
Notably, there was a significant spike in the sales of materials like bitumen, used in road construction, which surged by 12.9% from November. Additionally, the usage of fuel oil saw a considerable uptick of 9.6% in December.
Moreover, the consumption of cooking gas, known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), recorded a rise of 5.6%, reaching 2.63 million tons. Simultaneously, naphtha sales exhibited a substantial leap of 27.9%, totaling approximately 1.33 million tons, as per the data.
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