Demand for petrol and diesel fell in the first half of March after a record showing in February, according to industry data on Thursday.

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Petrol sales saw a 1.4 per cent slump to 1.22 million tonnes in the first half of March when compared with the same period of last year. It dropped 0.5 per cent as against the first half of February, the data showed.

Diesel consumption slipped 10.2 per cent to 3.18 million tonnes during March 1 to 15 when compared with 3.54 million tonnes sales in the same period a year back. Month-on-month demand went down 4.6 per cent.

Petrol and diesel registered a record growth of 18 and 25 percent respectively in February year-on-year.

Truck drivers were deterred from doing much transport in January due to cold conditions and fog. The rise in temperatures paved the way for more movement, increasing the fuel consumption. Demand from the agriculture sector also helped boost the sales.

Aviation sector too saw further opening up as compared to Covid times, and overall passenger traffic at airports inched closer to pre-Covid levels.

As such, jet fuel (ATF) demand jumped 19.2 per cent to 2,94,900 tonnes during the first half of March when compared to the same period last year. Month-on-month sales were almost flat.

According to sources quoted by PTI, 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 fell 9.7 per cent year-on-year to 1.18 million tonnes in March 1-15. Month-on-month, the demand dropped 15.10 when compared to 1.39 million tonnes of LPG consumption during February 1-15, the data showed.

(With PTI inputs)

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(Edited by : Pradeep John)