Domestic monthly diesel consumption fell for the first time in 10 months year-on-year in September, while petrol sales grew by the least in four months as record high pump prices dented demand, Government data showed on Friday.
Lower local sales of petrol and diesel curbed growth in overall fuel demand to 1.1 per cent in September, despite higher sales of liquefied petroleum gas and jet fuel.
Domestic fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 16.54 million tonnes in September, a decline of about 1.3 per cent from August, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.
A sharp fall in the value of the rupee and soaring oil prices led to record high pump prices of diesel and petrol, forcing the Government to cut taxes on them and asking retailers to cut marketing margins by 1 rupee a litre.
Diesel sales, which account for about 40 per cent of refined fuels used in the country, declined by 0.8 per cent to 6.03 million tonnes in September, the data showed.
Growth in sales of gasoline, widely used for transportation, eased to 4.2 per cent to 2.23 million tonnes from the same month last year, as demand for passenger vehicles fell 5.6 per cent in September from a year ago.
“It may have some price impact but we need to analyse that...last month growth in petrol and diesel sales were impacted as (in) September 2017 there was a robust growth,” said MK Surana, Chairman of Hindustan Petroleum Corp.