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India's Fuel Use Diverges: LPG Plummets, Petrol Soars
2 Jun
Summary
- LPG consumption significantly dropped by 19.16% year-on-year in May.
- Petrol demand saw a strong 2.8% year-on-year increase in May.
- Petroleum product exports' share in India's gross exports declined.
In May 2026, India witnessed a stark divergence in its fuel consumption trends. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) experienced a significant decline of 503 thousand metric tonnes, a 19.16% year-on-year drop, reaching 2.12 million tonnes. This marks the steepest decrease among key petroleum products, primarily due to government demand-management initiatives and escalating commercial LPG prices.
Contrasting this downturn, petrol consumption demonstrated robust growth, rising by 2.8% year-on-year to 3.888 million tonnes in May 2026. This performance positioned petrol as the fastest-growing transport fuel. Diesel demand also saw a marginal increase of 0.95% year-on-year. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) consumption remained relatively stable.
This divergence is also evident in the cumulative data for April-May FY27, with petrol consumption up 4.5% and diesel by 0.61%. LPG, however, continued its downward trajectory, with a 17.54% fall in consumption during the same period. Concurrently, the petroleum sector's contribution to India's exports diminished to 8.8% in FY26.
