Demand for diesel drops 2.9%, petrol sales rise 0.4% in Aug

Consumption of diesel dropped 2.9% and that of petrol rose 0.4% in August over last year, according to the state oil companies' data.

The demand for aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rose 9.5% year-on-year in August while that for LPG rose 4.4%.

Compared to August 2019, the ATF sales are still 3.2% lower while those of petrol and diesel are up 21.2% and 8.4% respectively. Over the last few months, state oil companies' petrol and diesel sales have been under pressure from the rising competition from private fuel retailers who had cut their retail sales last year after government-controlled retailers started selling fuel at below-market rates.


Private players have again boosted their presence in the market this year to benefit from the extraordinarily high margins that fuel retailing currently offers. Rains, industrial activity and the larger state of the economy also influence the sales of transportation fuels.

Sales of petrol have risen 3.4% month-on-month in August while those of diesel have dropped 3.7%. Diesel, which has a wide range of applications from goods transport to mining and farming, accounts for nearly 40% of the country's oil demand.