Gas station at lockdown in New Delhi, India, in April.
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
India’s petrol consumption fell for the first time in more than two decades in 2020 when the epidemics and factories closed, hurting demand from one of the world’s largest fuel consumers.
Total petrol demand fell 10.8% last year from 2019, and was at a five-year low of 193.4 million tonnes, according to Bloomberg calculations of provisional data published by the oil ministry Petroleum Cell Design & Analysis. The annual summary was the first to be recorded, dating back to 1999.
Petrol fuel consumption by Asia ‘s second largest oil importer it fell as much as 70% after starting one of the toughest in the world quarantines nationwide in March. The downturn resulted in a sharp cut in raw processing and work at petrochemical plants.
The severe restrictions devastated the Indian economy, which is poised for the maximum contraction in annual gross domestic product in records dating back to 1952. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has rested in most of the loops to pull Asia’s third largest economy out of depression.
Demand arises as restrictions are eased. Monthly consumption of petrol fuel, a substitute for crude oil demand, was about 1.8% short of the previous year’s December levels, hitting an 11-month high.
Gasoline consumption last month rose 9.3% year-on-year, the highest level since May 2019, on increased use of personal vehicles. Diesel demand was 2.8% lower than a year earlier.