India’s fuel demand grew for a 15th straight month as rising automobile sales and declining crude oil prices encouraged higher consumption of gasoline and diesel.
Fuel use last month increased 13 percent from the previous year to 15.71 million tonnes, according to calculations based on preliminary data posted on the Web site of the Indian Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell.
That is the fastest rate of year-on-year growth since October last year.
Demand slipped 1 percent from a record high in December last year.
GASOLINE
Gasoline use jumped 11 percent to 1.82 million tonnes, while consumption of diesel, which contributes 40 percent of the nation’s total fuel use, rose about 8 percent to 6.28 million tonnes.
The nation’s fuel demand growth would average approximately 5 percent this year and next year, Singapore-based BMI Research analyst Peter Lee said.
“Our short-term outlook on India’s oil demand growth is quite bullish,” Lee said by e-mail yesterday. “Government figures show that gasoline and automotive diesel demand held up over 2015 and we expect this trend to persist for some time alongside strong growth in car sales, which will drive up domestic demand for transport-related fuels.”
PASSENGER CARS
Sales of passenger vehicles in India from April to December last year increased 9.05 percent over the same period the previous year and are forecast to rise 10 percent during the fiscal year to March 31, beating an earlier forecast, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said.
“There is disposable income and people are buying automobiles,” Bharat Petroleum Corp marketing director K.K. Gupta said in a telephone interview from Mumbai on Thursday. “The fuel consumption growth in rural and semi-urban regions is almost double of that in the bigger cities.”
Along with China, the two nations will account for more than half of the increase in world oil consumption over the next two decades as vehicle use expands, according to BP Energy Outlook.
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