In July, the fuel demand in India went down, recording its fifth straight annual fall. Government reports on Tuesday revealed that coronavirus and floods were spiking in several areas of the country, restricting the economic activity.
Refined fuel use as a source for the market for oil declined to 15.68 million tons on July11, seven percent lower than the previous year, and 3.5 percent lower than the previous month, estimated in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas’ Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).
Diesel usage, which accounts for nearly two-fifths of the overall fuel consumption of India, was down from the June average of 6.31 million tons, to 5.52 million tons last month, and is extensively utilized in both transport and irrigation. Petrol and gasoline revenues fell by 10.3 percent to 2.26 million tons from the previous year and by 0.8 percent relative to 2.28 million in June. When higher petrol costs diminish the market in the world’s third-biggest oil customer and virus cases are still increasing, the market for fuel was also affected.
India ranks third in most instances after the US and Brazil with over 2 million people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. However, extreme rainfall, flooding, and devastated manufacturing and building operations have impacted millions of residents in several Indian States.
Indian Oil Corp, the largest refiner, announced last month that in 2020/21 its refineries will continue to run below capacity and that in the immediate future it saw no improvement in demand to pre-COVID rates.
Fuel consumption in India nearly halved in April to limit commercial development and transport as a national shutdown in order to contain the outbreak.
