India’s April fuel demand slipped from the previous month as the world’s third-largest oil consumer bore the brunt of raging coronavirus infections, with the prospect of further restrictions weighing on the outlook. Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, fell 9.4 per cent to 17.01 million tonnes from March, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas showed on Tuesday.

On a yearly basis, demand surged 81.5 per cent from April 2020 lows, when consumption plunged to the lowest since 2006 as coronavirus restrictions during India’s first wave-battered economy. This represents the biggest year-on-year increase since data going back to about 1999. “India’s second wave of virus infections and varying containment measures provides an uncertain outlook for the fuel demand,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA said. India is nearing 400,000 infections a day and the second surge has increased calls for a nationwide lockdown and forced many states to impose tougher restrictions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s resistance to a full lockdown has supported consumption in the short term, Moya said. Fuel demand had reached pre-pandemic levels of around 18.8 million tonnes in March, the highest level since end-2019. Diesel consumption, a key parameter linked to economic growth in India, fell 7.5 per cent to 6.68 million tonnes from the previous month but surged 105.5 per cent year-on-year. Gasoline, or petrol, sales fell 13.1 per cent to 2.38 million tonnes in April- the lowest level since August 2020, and were 145 per cent higher compared with the same period a year ago.