April fuel sales decline 9.4% on COVID wave

Diesel slides 9% from April-2019 level

May 13, 2021 03:52 am | Updated 03:52 am IST - NEW DELHI

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, 27/03/2020: A cow at a petrol bunk in Bengaluru on March 27, 2020. India has entered Day 3 of the 21-days nationwide lockdown over the highly contagious Covid-19. India is now locked down and loaded in its fight against the COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (24 th Mar 2020) announced a 21-day nationwide shutdown in an effort to break the chain of virus transmission. Photo: G.R.N. Somashekar

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, 27/03/2020: A cow at a petrol bunk in Bengaluru on March 27, 2020. India has entered Day 3 of the 21-days nationwide lockdown over the highly contagious Covid-19. India is now locked down and loaded in its fight against the COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (24 th Mar 2020) announced a 21-day nationwide shutdown in an effort to break the chain of virus transmission. Photo: G.R.N. Somashekar

Fuel demand slumped 9.4% in April compared with the preceding month as lockdowns clamped in several States to curb the second wave of coronavirus sweeping the nation pummelled demand, official data showed on Wednesday.

Consumption fell 9.38% to 17.01 million tonnes in April from 18.77 million tonnes in March, data from Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed. India was under one of the world’s severest lockdowns in April 2020. Fuel sales had halved that month, plunging to the lowest since 2006. Comparing on a yearly basis, fuel demand surged 81.5% from April 2020 lows. Sales of petrol fell to 2.38 million tonnes in April, the lowest since August, and 13% lower than March 2021 and 3% lower than April 2019.

Diesel demand fell to 6.67 million tonnes in April 2021, down 7.5% from the previous month and 9% from April 2019.

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