India's fuel demand up 4.4% in April on surge in petrol, diesel, cooking gas consumption

New Delhi: India’s fuel demand rose 4.4 percent in April on the back of a surge in auto fuel and cooking gas (LPG) consumption. Fuel consumption in April totalled 17.67 million tonnes as compared to 16.91 million tonnes in the same month last year, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed. [caption id=“attachment_4222823” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The rise was led by a 9.2 percent surge in petrol sales at 2.28 million tonnes. Diesel, which makes up for roughly 40 percent of all the petroleum product consumed in the country, posted a 2.6 percent growth in consumption at 7.15 million tonnes. Jet fuel or ATF sale was up 13.4 percent at 6,92,000 tonnes. With the government pushing for use of cleaner liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as cooking fuel by giving free connections to poor, cooking gas (LPG) consumption was up 13 percent at 1.87 million tonnes. The result of LPG push was a 7.2 percent drop in kerosene usage at 3,07,000 tonnes in April when compared to the year-ago period. Naphtha sales were up 6.2 percent at 1.06 million tonnes but consumption of petroleum coke was almost flat at 2.18 million tonnes.