Feb fuel demand rises 5% to 24-yr high of 4.8 mn barrels a day

India's fuel consumption surged by over 5% to 4.82 million barrels per day (18.5 million tonnes) in February 2023, thanks to unprecedented fuel demand that hit a 24-year high in the month, the Oil Ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data, accessed by a global news agency, shows. While petrol sales surged 8.9% to 2.8 million tonnes in February, diesel sales surged 7.5% to 6.98 million tonnes a day.

The overall sale of Jet fuel jumped over 43% to 0.62 million tonnes; LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) grew 0.1% to 2.39 million tonnes; and fuel oil demand dipped by 5%. The data has not been shared on the PPAC website so far.

Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), an attached office of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG), collects and analyses data on the oil and gas sector.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, had last year become the 3rd largest exporter of crude petroleum to India even as Iraq and Saudi Arabia remained at the top. India is the third largest importer of crude oil after the US and China.

India's imports from Russia range from petroleum and other fuels, fertilisers, coffee, tea and spices. In 2022, fertilisers and fuel accounted for most (over 90%) of these imports. India’s oil imports from Russia had risen to 16% in April-August 2022 from 2% in FY 2021-22.

As per the PPAC data officially released until January, indigenous crude oil and condensate production were down by 1.3% and 1.1% during April-January on YoY basis. Crude oil processed increased by 6.3% during April-January 2023 on YoY. A growth of 5.1% was recorded during January 2023 as compared to January 2022.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a post-budget interaction with the Confederation of Indian Industry in February 2022, had said the country continues to import fuel at a far cheaper rate despite the energy prices going through the roof due to Ukraine crisis.

"National interest was put on the top of the agenda, otherwise you would not have had fuel coming. Energy costs were going up. But because of the leadership's strength and the way in which the honourable prime minister has engaged with the leaders globally, we are not able to get fuel far cheaper than anyone else. Hasn't that helped us?" Sitharaman said adding that globally, India has been able to take a position and stand by it in the interest of the country. Sitharaman said that in this context the role of the industry is no less.

The oil and gas industry, globally, witnessed a year-on-year increase of 3% in overall contract value in 2022, despite a 4% decrease in contract volume, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, “Oil and Gas Industry Annual Contracts Analytics by Region, Sector (Upstream, Midstream and Downstream), Planned and Awarded Contracts, and Top Contractors,” reveals the overall contract value increased from $178.86 billion in 2021 to $183.63 billion in 2022, though contract volume saw a marginal decrease from 6,972 in 2021 to 6,668 in 2022.