Petrol, diesel sales skid as winter sets in

Volatile Fuel Consumption

• Transport sector accounts for 70% of all diesel sales
• Demand for both petrol and diesel rose in Oct
• But diesel consumption fell 7.5% in Nov
• Petrol consumption in Dec was 7.1% higher than in Covid-marred Dec 2021 and 21.5% more than in pre-pandemic Dec 2019

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel sales in India slumped in December as setting in of winter tapered demand, preliminary data of state-owned firms showed on Monday. Petrol sales of the three state-owned firms, which control 90 per cent of the fuel market, fell 1.4 per cent to 2.72 million tonnes (MT) in December 2023 when compared to the year-ago period, while diesel demand dropped 7.8 per cent to 6.73 million tonnes. The onset of the winter season in northern India led to the tapering of air-conditioning demand.

Month-on-month petrol sales dropped 4.9 per cent when compared to 2.86 million tonnes consumption in November. Diesel demand too was down 0.8 per cent month-on-month when compared to 6.79 million tonnes in November. Diesel is India’s most consumed fuel, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all petroleum product consumption.