Fuel demand recovery stalled in July amid Covid lockdown, prices: Report

Fuel prices rose but demand recovery stalled in July as people remained indoors owing to the coronavirus induced lockdown in several states. While demand for diesel in July dropped 12.5 per cent over June, Petrol sales in July also fell 1 per cent, Economic Times reported. 

Meanwhile, the sale of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rose 3.8 per cent in July from a month earlier but is down 65 per cent from the July of 2019 due to the absence of international flights and limited domestic operations.  ATF price on Saturday was hiked by 3 per cent, the fifth straight increase in two months, by Rs 1,304.25? per kilolitre in the national capital to Rs 43,932.53 per kl.

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged across metro cities on Monday. 

In the national capital, petrol was sold at Rs 80.43 per litre, unchanged for over a month now, and diesel at Rs 73.56, same for a third consecutive day. The price cut has again made diesel cheaper than petrol in the city after more than a month. In fact, diesel is cheaper than petrol in Delhi by the widest margin among all metros now.

Delhi was the only major city in the country where diesel prices were higher than petrol.

Crude oil imports last month dropped about 19 per cent from a year earlier to 13.68 million tonnes.

India's crude oil imports fell in June to their lowest level since February 2015, while year-on-year refined product exports declined for the first time in almost a year, government data showed on Friday.

Crude oil imports last month dropped about 19 per cent from a year earlier to 13.68 million tonnes, down for a third straight month, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas showed. Oil product exports fell about 6 per cent, their first year-on-year fall since August 2019, primarily driven by declining diesel exports, which slid to their lowest since April last year.

The country's top refiner, Indian Oil Corp, said it would continue to operate its refineries below capacity in 2020/21 as it expected local and overseas fuel demand to remain subdued.