Preliminary statistics from state-owned companies revealed on Monday that sales of gasoline and diesel in India fell in December as the onset of winter tempered demand.
In comparison to the same month last year, the three state-owned companies that control 90% of the fuel market saw a 1.4% decline in gasoline sales to 2.72 million tonnes in December 2023, while the demand for diesel plummeted 7.8% to 6.73 million tonnes.
The demand for air conditioning fell when winter arrived in northern India.
Petrol sales were down 4.9% month over month in comparison to November’s 2.86 million tons used. In addition, the demand for diesel decreased by 0.8% month over month from 6.79 million tons in November.
In India, diesel fuel is the most widely used fuel, making up over 40% of total petroleum product usage. Seventy percent of diesel sales in the nation are accounted for by the transportation industry.
The last several months have seen a swing in the amount of fuel used.
While demand for gasoline and diesel increased in October, the following month saw a 7.5% decline in the use of diesel.
In December 2023, gasoline consumption was 7.1% higher than in December 2021, when COVID-19 was prevalent, and 21.5% higher than in December 2019 before the pandemic.
In December 2021, diesel consumption increased by 4.3%, whereas in December 2019, it increased by 2.7%.
Sales of jet fuel (ATF) increased 3.8% year over year to 644,900 tons in December. But the main reason this was 6.5% less than in December 2019 was that not all foreign flights had been restored during the epidemic.
ATF use was less than the 628,400 tons utilized in December 2019 prior to COVID-19, but it was still 25.5% higher than in December 2021.
Sales of jet fuel increased month over month by 2.6% from 628,400 tons in November 2023.
Sales of cooking gas LPG in December were 2.73 million tons, almost unchanged from the previous year. The amount of LPG used was 8.1% greater than in December 2021 and 16.4% more than in December 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the report, LPG demand increased 6.2% month over month in November compared to 2.57 million tons of LPG use.