India’s Oil-Product Sales Drop as Users Switch to Domestic Gas
India’s oil-product sales fell for a third month in October as factories and power plants switched to domestically produced natural gas.
Volume dropped 1.3 percent to 11.6 million metric tons from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from state oil companies. Naphtha, used in power plants and petrochemical units, declined 20 percent to 646,500 tons.
Diesel, which accounts for about 40 percent of fuel sales in Asia’s third-biggest energy consumer, rose 3.9 percent last month to 4.95 million tons from a year earlier. Gasoline sales climbed 7 percent to 1.18 million tons.
India has witnessed a drop in sales of naphtha, furnace oil and imported natural gas this year as more power plants, cement and chemical factories switched to cheaper domestic supplies. Gas production in India including output from the largest field operated by Reliance Industries Ltd. off the nation’s east coast, grew 13 percent in September, according to data from the Oil Ministry.
Use of imported liquefied natural gas fell 22 percent to 517,400 tons. Sales of kerosene declined 4.1 percent to 753,200 tons. Bitumen, used in road construction, dropped 6.2 percent to 305,500 tons.
Jet fuel sales rose 10 percent to 434,300 tons, while liquefied petroleum gas, used in cooking and to power vehicles, grew 7.4 percent to 1.17 million tons, according to the data.
India is Asia’s second-biggest energy user, behind China.
To contact the reporter on this story: Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Foxwell at sfoxwell@bloomberg.net.
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