Petrol, diesel sales soar on holiday travel

PTI, Jan 1, 2025, 5:11 PM IST

Representative Image (iStock)

New Delhi : India’s petrol and diesel consumption soared in December 2024 as holiday travel boosted demand, reversing the fall witnessed in previous months, preliminary data of state-owned fuel retailers showed on Wednesday.

While petrol sales had shown a year-on-year increase in recent months, diesel has been a laggard since monsoon. November was the first month that saw growth in diesel consumption and the trend continued into December.

Petrol sales of three state-owned firms, which control 90 per cent of the fuel market, soared 9.8 per cent to 2.99 million tonne in December compared to 2.72 million tonne of consumption in the same month last year.

Diesel demand during the month was up 4.9 per cent to 7.07 million tonne.

This is the second straight month of auto fuels posting handsome increase in consumption. Petrol demand was up 8.3 per cent year-on-year in November and diesel consumption rose 5.9 per cent.

Road trips as well as air and rail travel during the holiday season in the second half of December boosted fuel sales. Also, fuel demand in the agriculture sector due to kharif crop sowing contributed to the rise.

Petrol and diesel sales have been tepid during the monsoon months as rains reduced vehicular movement and demand for the agriculture sector. Petrol demand however soared once rains eased but diesel consumption lagged year-on-year.

Month-on-month petrol sales in December 2024 however slid 3.6 per cent when compared to 3.1 million tonne of consumption in November 2024. Similarly, diesel demand was 1.7 per cent less than 7.2 million tonne of consumption in November 2024.

Diesel is India’s most consumed fuel, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all petroleum product consumption. The transport sector accounts for 70 per cent of all diesel sales in the country. It is also the predominant fuel used in agriculture sectors, including in harvesters and tractors.

Consumption of petrol during December was 8.4 per cent more than in December 2022, and 27.9 per cent more than in Covid-marred December 2020.

Diesel demand was 3.2 per cent lower than December 2022, but 48.7 per cent higher when compared to December 2020.

Jet fuel (ATF) sales rose 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 696,400 tonne during December 2024. This was 5.2 per cent higher month-on-month when compared with 661,700 tonne of fuel sold in November.

Like petrol and diesel, ATF demand too is now firmly above pre-Covid levels.

ATF consumption was 12.1 per cent more than in December 2022, but 40.8 per cent less than that in December 2020.

Cooking gas LPG sales were up 5.2 per cent year-on-year to 2.87 million tonne in December 2024. LPG consumption was 5.7 per cent higher than in December 2022, but 14.8 per cent less than in December 2020.

Month-on-month, LPG demand was up 4.1 per cent when compared to 2.76 million tonne of LPG consumption in November, the data showed.