NEW DELHI: India's fuel demand witnessed the sharpest rebound in February as petrol and diesel consumption rose by double digits after a winter lull in the previous month, preliminary industry data showed on Thursday.
Petrol sales jumped almost 18 percent to 1.22 million tonnes in the first half of February, as compared to 1.04 million tonnes of consumption in the same period of last year.
Sales were 18.3 percent higher than in the COVID-marred first half of February 2021 and 15.7 percent more than in the same period of 2020.
Month-on-month, the demand was up 13.6 per cent, reversing the dip in the previous month.
Sales had fallen 5.1 percent month-on-month in January as cold conditions cut vehicular movement.
Diesel, the most used fuel in the country, posted a nearly 25 percent rise in sales during February 1-15 to 3.33 million tonnes, as compared to the same period last year.
Consumption was up 16.7 percent over the first half of February 2021 and 7 percent higher than in 2020.
Month-on-month sales surged 10.3 percent from 3.01 million tonnes in the first half of January.
In January, diesel consumption fell 8.6 percent month-on-month basis as snowfall in higher reaches halted truck movement.
The rebound in sales is the sharpest.
Industry sources said diesel demand surged as trucks returned to roads and there was a pick-up in the agriculture sector.
The use of the fuel in irrigation pumps and trucking helped build the momentum generated.
January sales were lower month-on-month also because the previous month had seen a surge in consumption due to vacation travel.
With the continued opening of the aviation sector, India's overall passenger traffic at airports inched closer to pre-COVID-19 levels.
Reflecting the trend, jet fuel (ATF) demand jumped 43.7 percent to 2,94,000 tonnes during the first half of February when compared to the same period last year.
It was 35.6 percent higher than in February 2021 but 12.8 percent lower than in February 2020.
Month-on-month sales were up 4.22 percent.
Sources said while domestic air travel is back to pre-COVID levels, international traffic is lagging because of continued restrictions in some countries.
India's recovery has continued to gain momentum in recent months but has been accompanied by elevated inflation.
This slowed the momentum a bit.
The country's oil demand had been rising steadily since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
Cooking gas LPG sales were up 4.1 percent year-on-year at 1.39 million tonnes from February 1-15.
LPG consumption was 14.7 percent higher than in February 2021 and 20.9 percent more than in February 2020.
Month-on-month, the demand was up nearly 12 percent when compared to 1.24 million tonnes of LPG consumption during January 1-15, the data showed.