<p>Preliminary statistics from state-owned companies revealed on Monday that sales of gasoline and diesel in India fell in December as the onset of winter tempered demand.</p>
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<p>In comparison to the same month last year, the three state-owned companies that control 90% of the fuel market saw a 1.4% decline in gasoline sales to 2.72 million tonnes in December 2023, while the demand for diesel plummeted 7.8% to 6.73 million tonnes.</p>
<p>The demand for air conditioning fell when winter arrived in northern India.</p>
<p>Petrol sales were down 4.9% month over month in comparison to November’s 2.86 million tons used. In addition, the demand for diesel decreased by 0.8% month over month from 6.79 million tons in November.</p>
<p>In India, diesel fuel is the most widely used fuel, making up over 40% of total petroleum product usage. Seventy percent of diesel sales in the nation are accounted for by the transportation industry.</p>
<p>The last several months have seen a swing in the amount of fuel used.</p>
<p>While demand for gasoline and diesel increased in October, the following month saw a 7.5% decline in the use of diesel.</p>
<p>In December 2023, gasoline consumption was 7.1% higher than in December 2021, when COVID-19 was prevalent, and 21.5% higher than in December 2019 before the pandemic.</p>
<p>In December 2021, diesel consumption increased by 4.3%, whereas in December 2019, it increased by 2.7%.</p>
<p>Sales of jet fuel (ATF) increased 3.8% year over year to 644,900 tons in December. But the main reason this was 6.5% less than in December 2019 was that not all foreign flights had been restored during the epidemic.</p>
<p>ATF use was less than the 628,400 tons utilized in December 2019 prior to COVID-19, but it was still 25.5% higher than in December 2021.</p>
<p>Sales of jet fuel increased month over month by 2.6% from 628,400 tons in November 2023.</p>
<p>Sales of cooking gas LPG in December were 2.73 million tons, almost unchanged from the previous year. The amount of LPG used was 8.1% greater than in December 2021 and 16.4% more than in December 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>According to the report, LPG demand increased 6.2% month over month in November compared to 2.57 million tons of LPG use.</p>