Petrol Sales: "Two-wheelers and three-wheelers would get petrol amounting to Rs 200 per day while four-wheelers it would be Rs 500 per day," said the order issued by the Food and Civil Supplies department.
While petrol sales were up mostly due to an increase in the use of personal vehicles on the back of a price cut, crop harvesting season and the onset of summer, which will increase the demand for air conditioning in cars as well as the electioneering holds out hope for reversing the trend in diesel demand.
Nayara Energy leads the private players, accounting for more than half of their combined sales. Nayara also operates the largest network of petrol pumps among private retailers. It has 6,590 pumps while Jio-BP, the joint venture of Reliance Industries and BP, operates 1,700 pumps, according to the oil ministry data. Shell has just 340 fuel stations and less than 1% share in domestic sales of petrol and diesel.
Domestic diesel demand is projected to rise from 1.8 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2023 to 2.3 mbd in 2030, an increase of 4.5% annually, IEA said in its India Oil Market Outlook. By comparison, petrol demand is estimated to rise a modest 0.7% every year to 1 mbd in 2030 from 0.9 mbd in 2023. For the last many years, diesel consumption has grown at a much slower pace than petrol as preference for petrol cars grew after deregulation eroded diesel s price advantage.
Petrol consumption rose 9.3% in January, while diesel consumption increased by 3.1%. Sales of petrol and diesel in the April-January period were up by 6.1% and 4.3% respectively. Private sector market share gains were indicated as state refiners sold 8% more petrol and 1.8% less diesel. Jet fuel sales rose 6.2% in January, and cooking gas consumption expanded by 6.9%. Petrol sales account for 15% of total refined products demand, while diesel makes up 38%.