Petrol Stop

Provisional local fuel sales in March up 3.9% y-o-y

Monday, 18 April 2011

18 April 2011;business-standard.com:New Delhi: India's local oil product sales in March rose an annual 3.9%, higher than the previous month, provisional government data showed on Monday, as elections in some states spurred demand for petrol and diesel. Local oil product sales, a proxy for domestic oil demand in Asia's third-largest oil consumer, rose to 12.16 million tonnes in March, compared with February's 3.5% annual rise to 11.66 million tonnes. During the 2010-11 fiscal to end-March, fuel sales rose an annual 2.9% to 134.38 million tonnes, the data showed, lower than the government's 4.7% growth estimate at 144.35 million tonnes. Demand for petrol and diesel is expected to soften in May with the conclusion of key state elections this month and on a probable normal monsoon, which would crimp gas oil demand from the agriculture sector. India is expected to present its first official monsoon forecast on Tuesday, while the South Asia Climate Outlook Forum has said South Asia is likely to receive normal monsoon in 2011. Diesel sales, which make up over a third of refined products consumption, rose an annual 6% in March to 5.45 million tonnes while petrol sales rose 9.8% to 1.27 million tonnes during the month, the provisional figures showed. Cumulatively, diesel sales rose an annual 6.6% in the last fiscal to 59.87 million tonnes while petrol consumption was up 10.8% to 14.20 million tonnes. Consumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in March rose an annual 28.3% to 804,200 tonnes, but fell 2.3% in 2010/11 from a year ago to 8.04 million tonnes. Kerosene consumption in March declined an annual 5.8% to 716,700 tonnes as it is being gradually replaced by a cleaner liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In 2010/11, kerosene consumption fell by 4% to 8.93 million tonnes. LPG usage rose 11.5% in March to 1.26 million tonnes from a year ago and 9.3% in the last fiscal to 13.68 million tonnes. Naphtha consumption during the fiscal declined 0.7% from a year ago following the commissioning of state-run Indian Oil Corp's Panipat naphtha cracker. In March, naphtha consumption rose 3.1% on low availability of gas from Reliance Industries-operated D6 block in India's east coast. Jet fuel consumption during March rose an annual 13.5%, propping up the aviation fuel's consumption during the last fiscal year to 9.7% from a year ago.