On Wednesday, India’s oil ministry data showed that the country’s fuel demand in May almost doubled from April level as the lockdown to restrict the spread of coronavirus was eased, showing a slow revival of economic activity.
Last month, fuel consumption soared by 47.4% month-on-month to 14.65 million tonnes but the number was also a 23.3% drop year-on-year.
Indian refiners are ramping up crude processing. Indian Oil Corp., for example, aims to operate plants at around 90% of capacity this month.
However, analysts predicted that it would take months before the consumption level reaches the pre-lockdown rate as the monsoon season is approaching, manufacturing activities are still low, and the transportation demand was very low in some parts of the country.
Domestic demand for refined products has also shown improvements on a monthly basis.
Diesel consumption rose by 69.1% month-on-month in May and slumped by around 29.4% year-on-year. Petrol/gasoline sales slumped by 35.3% year-on-year and skyrocketed by 81.8% from April level.
Sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shot up by 12.8% to 2.32 million tonnes as the government provides free cooking gas cylinders to the needy. Naphtha consumption climbed up by 36.4% to 1.08 million tonnes.
