Covid impact: India's annual fuel demand falls for first time in 21 years

Fuel demand from Asia's second-biggest oil importer collapsed by as much as 70% after it embarked on one of the world's most stringent lockdowns in March

India’s overall petroleum demand in 2020 fell for the first time in more than two decades as the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered businesses and factories, crimping the appetite of one of the world’s biggest consumers.

Demand for total petroleum products -- including diesel, fuel and jet fuel -- slid 10.8% from a year earlier, the first annual contraction in data going back to 1999, according to Bloomberg calculations of provisional figures published by the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell. Consumption was also at a five-year low of 193.4 million tons.

Virus Effect

Fuel demand from Asia’s second-biggest oil importer