Fuel demand scales 11-month peak in December as recovery gathers pace

NEW DELHI: India’s fuel consumption in December rose for a fourth straight month as economic activity and transport demand continued to recover from a coronavirus-led hiatus.
Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, rose 4.1% to 18.6 million tonnes in December, the highest since January 2020, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the ministry of petroleum & natural gas showed on Friday.
However, on an annual basis, demand slipped by 1.8%, indicating that consumption in Asia’s third-largest economy hasn’t yet reached pre-pandemic levels.