Petrol, diesel consumption likely to burn out on coronavirus heat
India is likely to see a drop of 5-10 per cent in the quantity of fuel sales owing to COVID-19 restrictions. The decline in purchases of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel is set to dampen the annual consumption figures of the current financial year and also 2020-21.
This will be a repeat of what happened in China, where demand for all commodities, including petroleum products and steel, had shrunk after the epidemic surfaced in Wuhan, leading to the accumulation of vast stocks.
A reprise of this has been seen in India during the initial three weeks of the epidemic. Based on an estimate by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country’s requirement of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel may fall 36 per cent during the January-March period (Q1) over the same duration last year.
