India’s fuel demand jumps 24% year-on-year in May as recovery continues
India’s fuel consumption jumped 23.8% in May from a year earlier, continuing a recovery from a relatively low base in 2021 when the world’s third biggest oil consumer was in the grip of a second wave of COVID-19.
Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.27 million tonnes last month, according to data from the Indian oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Last month’s increase was the biggest year-on-year jump since April 2021. Consumption also rose modestly, by 0.4%, from April.
The yearly increase is “because of a lower base, as demand in May 2021 was low due to high COVID cases at that time,” although the monthly rise was surprising, said Refinitiv analyst Ehsan Ul Haq.
