IOCL’s CEO Sanjiv Singh said that India’s oil demand would recover fully to pre-pandemic levels within two years. Singh also expected that the health crisis would not give a significant impact on oil demand in the country over the medium and long term.
Growth of Indian oil demand, including LPG, slowed to near zero in the fiscal year ended March 2020 amid weakening economy, stopping the 4% growth in the previous few years. Singh expects that refined product demand, excluding jet fuel, would return to average annual growth of 4% within two years.
Gasoline demand was about 15% lower than a-year-ago levels on June 1-17, while diesel demand decreased by about 12% over the same period. Meanwhile, demand for jet fuel suffered the sharpest decline of 28%.
According to Singh, IOCL views demand to remain robust and hence, decided to continue major refinery projects without cutting its capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.
