Diesel sales are continuously decreasing, petrol consumption increased in September

Diesel sales in India fell for the second consecutive month in September. This is because their demand has decreased due to rain in the country. Government oil companies have released diesel sales figures today. At the same time, there has been a slight increase in the sales of petrol. While diesel sales by the three state-owned fuel retailers declined year-on-year in the first half of September.

Let us tell you that diesel is the most consumed fuel in the country. Diesel demand fell 5.8 percent to 2.72 million tonnes between September 1 and 15 compared with the year-ago period. There has been a decline in its consumption even in the last month of August.

Diesel sales usually fall during the monsoon months. This is because rain reduces demand in the agricultural sector which uses fuel for irrigation, harvesting, and transportation. Apart from this, rain also slows down the speed of vehicles.

At the same time, diesel consumption increased by 6.7 percent in April and 9.3 percent in May. Agricultural demand had increased this month and cars had turned to air conditioning to escape the summer heat. After the arrival of the monsoon, it started decreasing from the second week of June. At the same time, it declined in the first week of July but registered a rise in the second week of that month.

In the first week of September last year, petrol sales increased by 1.2 percent to 1.3 million tonnes. At the same time, this year the sale of petrol has increased by 1.2 percent to 1.3 million tonnes. If we talk about July, there was a decline of 10.5 percent in petrol consumption in the first week of July. At the same time, there was a decline of 8 percent in August. These figures show that sales in the first half of September increased by 8.8 percent month-on-month.

Petrol consumption during September 1-15 was 29.2 percent higher than the first half of Covid-affected September 2021 and 20.8 percent higher than pre-pandemic September 2019.

Diesel consumption was 26 percent higher compared to September 1-15, 2021, and 36.4 percent higher compared to September 1-15, 2019. With the continued increase in passenger traffic at airports, demand for jet fuel (ATF) in the first week of September increased by 6.8 percent to 2,92,500 tonnes compared to the same period last year. This was 53.9 percent higher than September 2021, but 5 percent lower than pre-Covid September 2019.

During September 1-15, sales of cooking gas (LPG) increased by 10.2 percent year-on-year to 1.36 million tonnes. LPG consumption was 15.5 percent higher than September 1-15, 2021, and 35 percent higher than pre-Covid September 1-15, 2019. These data show that month-on-month, LPG demand increased by 12 percent compared to LPG consumption of 1.21 million tonnes during August 1-15.