Updates with details and comments

Aug 8 (Reuters) -India’s fuel consumption rose by more than 7% year-on-year to 19.653 million metric tons in July, oil ministry data showed on Thursday, driven by increased air travel and overall economic growth.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

India is the third-largest consumer and importer of oil. The data is a proxy for the country’s oil demand.

KEY QUOTE

There has been a significant increase in jet fuel consumption, along with similar trends in petrol and diesel, said Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head, corporate ratings at the India Credit Rating Agency (ICRA), adding that the annual rise can be attributed to overall economic growth and the surge in air travel.

On a month-on-month basis, the trend is not very significant, likely due to the impact of the monsoon, when industrial demand typically declines, Vasisht added.

BY THE NUMBERS

Fuel demand was down 1.7% on a monthly basis from the 20 million metric tons consumed in June, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell’s (PPAC) website showed.

Sales of diesel, mainly used by trucks and commercially run passenger vehicles, rose 4.4% from a year earlier to 7.196 million tons in July. It was down nearly 10% on a monthly basis.

Sales of gasoline or petrol rose more than 10% from the previous year to 3.30 million tons, but were little changed from June.

Jet fuel demand jumped 9.2% on a yearly basis and 2.8% from the previous month.

Demand for bitumen, used for making roads, declined by over 1% annually.

Cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas, sales rose 10% to 2.63 million tons, while naphtha sales gained 11% to about 1.16 million tons, compared with last July, the data showed.

Fuel oil use increased by 6.4% year-on-year in July.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad and Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul and Mark Potter)