Petrol, diesel sales fall ahead of start of festive season
The Hindu
Petrol, diesel sales dip in 1st half Oct; festivals to boost consumption. Petrol sales down 9% y-o-y, diesel 3.2%. Base of last year larger. Jet fuel up 5.7% y-o-y, LPG 1.2%. Festivals to boost consumption in 2nd half Oct, OPEC sees India's oil demand expanding.
Petrol and diesel sales fell in the first half of October ahead of the start of the festival season that is expected to boost consumption, preliminary data of state-owned firms showed.
Last year, Durga Puja/Dussehra as well as Diwali fell in October. This year the festival season, when consumption picks up, starts in the second half of October.
Petrol sales by three state-owned fuel retailers fell 9% year-on-year, the first drop in two months. Diesel consumption dropped 3.2%.
The decline was largely because of the larger base of last year.
Petrol sales dropped to 1.17 million tonnes during the first half of October from 1.29 million tonnes a year earlier.
Sales dropped 9% month-on-month as well.
Consumption of diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country -- accounting for about two-fifths of the demand, dropped to 2.99 million tonnes during October 1 to 15 from 3.09 million tonnes a year back. Month-on-month sales were, however, up 9.6% compared with 2.73 million tonnes in the first half of September.
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