Fuel consumption up by 2.6% to 19.99 mn metric tonnes in June: Oil ministry

India's fuel consumption rose by 2.6% year-on-year to 19.99 million metric tonnes in June from a year earlier, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the oil ministry showed on Monday.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
 

India is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer. The data is a proxy for the country's oil demand.

KEY QUOTE
 

Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head, corporate ratings at India Credit Rating Agency (ICRA), said there had been solid economic growth in India, "and there was a lot of tourist activity this year as compared to last year. Jet fuel has been gradually improving ... In the power sector the power supplies were more regular, leading to the farming and agricultural sector being well supplied and that has also led to less dependence on diesel."
 

BY THE NUMBERS
 

Total consumption totalled 19.99 million metric tonnes in June, up from 19.48 million tonnes last year, data showed.
 

Demand was down 3.5% on a monthly basis from the 20.72 million metric tonnes consumed in May.
 

Sales of diesel, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, fell 5% month-on-month to 7.98 million tonnes in June. It was up 1% from a year earlier.
 

Sales of gasoline rose 4.6% from the previous year to 3.30 million tonnes, although sales dropped 4.8% from May levels.

Demand for bitumen, used for making roads, gained by more than 4% annually.
 

Cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas, sales rose by 3.2% to 2.31 million tonnes, while naphtha sales gained by 1.4% to about 1.07 million tonnes, compared with last June, the data showed.
 

Fuel oil use increased by nearly 5% year-on-year in June.