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India’s Fuel Consumption Jumped By 10% In November

Fuel demand in the world's third-largest crude oil importer, India, jumped by 10.2% in November from a year earlier, according to official data released on Friday.

Gasoline consumption rose 8.1% year over year in November, per data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Indian Petroleum Ministry cited by Reuters.

Demand for naphtha slumped by 18.2%, but sales of bitumen, primarily used for making roads, surged by 30.3%. India's fuel oil consumption rose by 8.4% last month compared to the same month of 2021.

Recovering demand in India is driving increased crude oil imports in the country, with purchases rising in the past few months, especially imports of deeply discounted crude from Russia.

India imported a record high volume of Russian crude of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, with Russia beating Iraq, which supplied 960,000 bpd to India. The world's third-largest oil importer saw crude imports rise to a four-month high in November due to robust domestic demand and the rush to buy Russian oil ahead of the EU-G7 bans and sanctions.

The biggest crude oil buyers in Asia, China, and India, haven't joined the price cap mechanism on Russian crude oil and have signaled that their energy security and continued ability to import crude from all exporters are at the top of their import policy strategies.

The October-December quarter is seasonally a strong quarter for oil demand in India as industrial and farming activity picks up after the end of the monsoon season.

In October, India's petroleum product demand hit the highest for the month in a decade, analysts told The Hindu Business Line last month. Boosted by holiday seasons and higher industrial and agricultural activity, Indian demand for gasoline, diesel, and other fuels is expected to rise by around 210,000 bpd in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter. 

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.  More

Comments

  • Mamdouh Salameh - 9th Dec 2022 at 8:48am:
    India’s fuel consumption and crude imports are projected to continue rising significantly year after year well into the future as a function of rising population and growing economy, the world’s third largest based on purchasing power parity (PPP). And now the bulk of its crude imports is coming from Russia in defiance of both the United States and the EU.

    Moreover, India, like China and many other Asian States and oil traders, has signalled its rejection of the Western price cap and its willingness to continue to buy Russian crude oil for the sake of its energy security and its ability to satisfy its needs well into the future.

    Furthermore, the discount Russia gives to its loyal customers doesn’t exceed a few dollars a barrel below market prices and not deeply discounted as the author of the article claimed.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Global Energy Expert
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