New Delhi: Gasoline consumption continues its surge in the first two weeks of September, up more than 8% of the same period of pre-pandemic 2019 but diesel sales growth remains slow like rain.
Sales data showed a surprising double-digit growth from last year in demand for jet fuel behind the revival in domestic tourism, but it was still not enough to reach the pre-pandemic level.
Sales rose more than 29% from last year and 8.7% from the same period August but 41% lack of comparative period 2019.
The sale of gasoline 5.7% higher than the same period in 2020 and 3.4% more than the first Two weeks of August, driven by travel norms between countries that are easier behind the fast vaccination and people’s preferences for private vehicles.
Conversely, demand for diesel, the most widely used fuel, continues to drag almost 7% lower than the 2019 comparative period and around 1.5% from last year.
On a monthly basis, sales of two weeks September fell by around 1% from the same August period.
Consumption of LPG, which is also supplied as a household cooking gas, over the pre-pandemic level of almost 15%, while growth arose dimmed around 2% compared to last year and around 9% higher than August.
Industry executives remain not affected by slow growth in diesel demand, describing it as a “seasonal” phenomenon.
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairperson of the largest fuel retailer in the country, seeing requests for motor fuel adds a pre-pandemic level in the next quarter, “hopefully” by Diwali, even though he acknowledges that the jet fuel will take more time.
“Diesel requests go down during the rainy season every year because of good rain drying requests from the agriculture sector (to run irrigation pumps).
Floods disrupt the movement of transport and construction activities.
Even the large infrastructure project is affected.
All of these sectors are large diesel consumers,” said a man Oil Company Executive.