At 18.77 Million Tonnes, India’s Fuel Demand Growth Hits Near 2-Year High In November  

India's fuel demand rose 10.5 percent in November compared with the same month last year (2019).

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.77 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Diesel consumption, which accounts for about two-fifths of India's overall refined fuel demand, arrested its declining trend of the previous three months and increased by 8.8% to 7.55 million tonnes in November from a year earlier, also its highest rate since January 2018, the data from PPAC showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 9.2 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.53 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 23.5 percent to 2.27 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 2.5 percent to 1.25 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 11.7 percent up, while fuel oil use edged lower 2.0 percent in November.

For most of this fiscal year beginning April, India's diesel sales have remained subdued due to various factors including a prolonged monsoon season and softening industrial activity. Between April and November, diesel consumption grew by about 1% from the same period a year ago, the data showed