India's fuel demand fell 0.1pc

India's fuel demand fell 0.1 per cent in December compared with the same month last year, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Friday.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.79 million tonnes, the data showed.

Meanwhile, consumption of diesel, which is widely used for transportation as well as for irrigation needs in India, inched down 0.7 per cent year-over-year to 7.34 million tonnes.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 3.2 per cent higher from a year earlier at 2.47 million tonnes. This marks its 28th consecutive year-over-year rise.

However, it is petrol's lowest year-over-year percentage rise since May 2018.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased about 9 per cent to 2.36 million tonnes, while naphtha sales fell around 5.5 per cent to 1.23 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 8.4per cent lower, while fuel oil use lower 12.2 per cent in December.

Kerosene, which belongs to the same grade of oil products as jet fuel and is widely used for heating, fell 45.5 per cent - its biggest year-on-year decline since at least 2000-01 - to 0.15 million tonnes.