India's fuel demand growth slows to nine-month low of 2.8% in August, reveals oil ministry data

India’s fuel demand rose 2.8 percent in August compared with the same month last year, but were at their lowest level in nine months. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totaled 17.04 million tonnes, its lowest since last November, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_5244811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 8.9 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.57 million tonnes. Diesel sales fell 1.1 percent to 6.12 million tonnes, its first year-on-year percentage decline in nine months. Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales surged 13 percent to 2.40 million tonnes, while naphtha sales increased 3.7 percent to 1.15 million tonnes. Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were up 23.8 percent, while fuel oil use edged lower 15.9 percent in August. India revised down its fuel consumption for July to 17.68 million tonnes, an increase of 3.9 percent from the previous year, its biggest year-on-year percentage gain since January.