India’s September fuel demand slips to its lowest in over 2 years

India’s fuel demand fell to its lowest in more than two years in September, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 16.01 million tonnes – its lowest since July 2017 – down about 0.3% compared with the same month last year.

Meanwhile, consumption of diesel, which is widely used for transportation as well as for irrigation needs in India, slipped more than 3% year-over-year to 5.83 million tonnes, its lowest since January 2017. Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 6.3% higher from a year earlier at 2.37 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased nearly 6% to 2.18 million tonnes, while naphtha sales slumped 26% to 0.84 million tonnes. Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 7.3% lower, while fuel oil use edged lower 3.8% in September.