Gasoline and Gasoil Sales Show Swift Recovery in October, Surpasses Pre-COVID Levels

Indian fuel retailers celebrate the festive season as Gasoil consumption rose by 6.6% from the last year’s figure during the October month. This has been the first such rebound since the nation entered COVID-19-related lockdown restrictions in March this year.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) own about 90% of the domestic retail fuel outlets. According to a compiled data by the country’s largest refiner and fuel retailer IOC, total diesel sales by the country’s three state fuel retailers touched 6.17 million tonnes in October.

Sales of Gasoil, which holds nearly two-fifth of India’s fuel demand rose 27.5% since September, indicating a strong pickup in the industrial activity after prolonged dullness. As per the data, this increase in Gasoline sales is happening for a second month in a row.

Domestic Gasoline sales rose 4% from the previous fiscal to about 2.4 million tonnes, nearly 8.6% higher in October than in September. Cooking gas sales were up by 3.8% than a year ago while jet fuel consumption nearly halved during the month. In lieu of the upswing in demand and rising market optimism, IOC is running its refineries at full capacities since last few months and other fuel retailers are ramping up refinery operations.