India’s Oil Consumption For August Lowest Since Nine Months

India’s fuel consumption for the month of August was the lowest in nine months even as it grew on a yearly basis.

Consumption of fuel grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in August to 17.04 million tonnes, according to data release by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. This is the lowest level since November last year when oil demand stood at 16.85 million tonnes. In July, the country’s fuel consumption was at 17.86 million tonnes.

This comes when automobile sales witnessed the biggest monthly decline and the worst slump in almost two decades, amid an overall economic slowdown. Domestic sales of passenger vehicles fell 31.6 percent year-on-year to 196,524 units in August, according to data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. That’s the worst decline since 1997-98 when SIAM started recording data.

Demand for high speed diesel fell from 6.83 million tonnes in July to 6.12 million tonnes in August this year. This is the lowest since September 2018 when it was 6.027 million tonnes.

While consumption of liquefied petroleum gas increased by 13 percent year-on-year to 2.4 million tonnes in August, petcoke consumption increased to 3.8 percent year-on-year to 1.79 million tonnes.