Petrol, diesel consumption likely to burn out on coronavirus heat

Petrol, diesel consumption to drop, rise in stockpile likely

India is likely to see a drop of 5-10 per cent in the quantity of fuel sales owing to COVID-19 restrictions. The decline in purchases of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel is set to dampen the annual consumption figures of the current financial year and also 2020-21.

This will be a repeat of what happened in China, where demand for all commodities, including petroleum products and steel, had shrunk after the epidemic surfaced in Wuhan, leading to the accumulation of vast stocks.

A reprise of this has been seen in India during the initial three weeks of the epidemic. Based