International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated India’s annual fuel consumption will decline 5.6% in 2020 to 4.73 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with growth of 2.4% forecast in its March report.
India’s gasoline demand will decline 9% to 667,000 bpd this year, while diesel will drop 6.1% to 1.65 million bpd, as per the IEA report.
India’s fuel demand and refinery utilisation rates are being impacted by an extended nation-wide lockdown of 40-day to stem the spread of coronavirus.
IEA sees April refinery runs to be 1.8 million bpd lower than recent monthly average levels, with capacity use rising in third quarter on demand recovery.
India’s oil demand will decline by 18.7% and 2.7% in the second and third quarters, IEA expects the demand to pick to about 1.4% only in the fourth quarter.