Dec 8 (Reuters) – India’s fuel consumption climbed to a six-month high in November, rising 5.5% from October to 21.27 million metric tons, according to data from the oil ministry.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
India is the world’s third-largest consumer and importer of oil and the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude, taking advantage of discounts on Russian oil as Europe and the U.S.
shun those barrels over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BY THE NUMBERS
India’s fuel demand rose to its highest level since May in November, climbing 3.0% from a year earlier, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed on Saturday.
Sales of gasoline, or petrol, totalled 3.52 million tons, easing 4.1% from October but 2.6% higher than the same month last year.
Diesel consumption jumped 12.2% month-on-month to 8.55 million tons in November, and was up 4.7% from a year earlier.
Consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rose 7.1% from a year earlier to 2.86 million tons.
Naphtha sales fell 19.1% year-on-year to 0.89 million tons, while bitumen consumption, used primarily in road construction, surged around 37.9% from October and was up 28.2% on an annual basis at 0.91 million tons.
Fuel oil usage stood at 0.56 million tons, rising 12% from a year earlier but slipping 5.1% month-on-month.
CONTEXT
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was prepared to continue guaranteeing “uninterrupted fuel supplies” to India, building on comments he made last week that questioned U.S.
pressure on New Delhi to scale back purchases of Russian oil. India, however, appeared cautious in its response to the offer. His remarks came during a two-day state visit to the country, his first trip to India since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Underlining this caution, Indian state refiners Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp have placed January orders for the loading of Russian oil from non-sanctioned suppliers due to widening discounts, Reuters reported on Friday.
Fresh U.S.
sanctions have targeted Russia’s two top oil producers, Lukoil and Rosneft. The U.S. had given companies until November 21 to stop their transactions with these Russian oil producers.
DOMESTIC SALES (in millions of metric tons):
2025 2025 2025 2024 2024 2024
November October September November October September
Diesel 8.55 7.62 6.79 8.17 7.65 6.37
Petrol 3.52 3.67 3.40 3.43 3.41 3.15
LPG 2.86 2.87 2.80 2.67 2.72 2.61
Naphtha 0.89 0.89 0.93 1.10 1.16 1.02
Jet fuel 0.79 0.77 0.72 0.75 0.76 0.73
Kerosene 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.03 0.04
Fuel Oil 0.56 0.59 0.53 0.50 0.62 0.56
Bitumen 0.91 0.66 0.57 0.71 0.64 0.42
TOTAL 21.27 20.17 18.73 20.66 20.25 17.41
(Reporting by Ishaan Arora in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
