India's Fuel Demand Continues To Recover In June: Report

Indian state-refiners' petrol and diesel sales rose in June compared with May, continuing with a gradual recovery as the nation relaxed lockdown aimed at stemming spread of COVID-19, provisional sales data showed on Wednesday.

State-retailers' gasoline sales in June rose by about 36 per cent from May to about 2.04 million tonnes.

Sales of gasoil, which accounts for about two-fifths of the country's overall fuel sales, rose by about 20 per cent in June compared with May to 5.54 million tonnes, provisional sales data showed.

However, petrol and diesel sales in June are still down by about 15 per cent and 17.1 per cent respectively from a year earlier.

Fuel consumption- a proxy for oil demand in the economy- plunged to the lowest since 2007 in April as the country came to a standstill due to the lockdown that was put in place on March 24.

Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week said fuel demand could normalise by end-September.

State companies Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum own about 90 per cent of the retail fuel outlets in India.

The sources who provided the provisional industry data asked not to be identified citing confidentiality.

Sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rose nearly 17 per cent in June from a year ago while jet fuel declined by 67.3 per cent during the same period.