TABLE-India's June oil product sales up 7.17 pct y/y-govt

July 24 (Reuters) - India's local oil product sales rose
7.17 percent in June from a year earlier, government data showed
on Tuesday, partly on a surge in demand for diesel to run
generators for irrigation amid a patchy monsoon and due to a
rise in diesel vehicle sales.
"A lot of diesel is being used by industrial players for
power generation as there are huge power deficits and there is a
lack of coal or natural gas to feed the power plants leaving
industries with limited options," said Praveen Kumar, senior
consultant and head of South Asia Oil and Gas Team at FACTS
Global Energy, Singapore.
On a month-on-month basis, however, total fuel consumption
fell 4.4 percent in June to 13 million tonnes, fuel consumption
data posted on the website of the Petroleum Planning and
Analysis Cell (PPAC)in the oil ministry showed on Tuesday.
"Typically, the reduction would be more than this," said
Kumar, due to the timely arrival of monsoon in June.
"This year, however, we are ascribing more strength to
diesel demand during the third quarter because of the rainfall
deficit," Kumar said.
India's monsoon rains lost momentum last week, falling 22
percent short of averages and raising the risk of a drought year
in one of the world's leading producers of grains and sugar just
as global prices hit record highs and domestic food prices soar.

Diesel sales rose 13.9 percent in June from a year earlier,
while petrol consumption picked up 7.2 percent, the data showed.
India's oil products demand is likely to grow an annual 6.1
percent in 2012/13, the highest in five years, government data
showed last month, as the country's thrust on infrastructure to
boost the economy is set to spur consumption of industrial
fuels.
Demand for diesel, which accounts for over 40 percent of
refined fuel consumption in India, is set to rise 5.9 percent to
68.55 million tonnes, while that of gasoline is expected to grow
5.8 percent to 15.86 million tonnes in the current fiscal year,
the government has said.
Following are details of India's domestic oil product sales
for June.
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DOMESTIC SALES (in million tonnes)
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2012 2011
PRODUCT JUN MAY APR MAR JUN MAY APR MAR

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Diesel 6.08 6.38 5.91 6.05 5.34 5.85 5.47 5.49

Petrol 1.34 1.29 1.25 1.42 1.25 1.35 1.20 1.27

LPG 1.29 1.31 1.24 1.35 1.21 1.22 1.17 1.33

Naphtha 0.90 1.07 0.93 0.90 0.85 0.96 0.79 0.77

Jet Fuel 0.42 0.45 0.44 0.48 0.44 0.46 0.45 0.48

Kerosene 0.63 0.62 0.60 0.66 0.68 0.73 0.75 0.72

Fuel Oil 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.71 0.78 0.67 0.89 0.95

Bitumen 0.38 0.46 0.45 0.62 0.36 0.51 0.48 0.63

All* 13.00 13.58 12.67 13.50 12.13 12.88 12.64 12.84
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NOTE: * Total may not tally as all items are not included in
the table and numbers are rounded off. The numbers for previous
months have been revised.

(Reporting by Malini Menon and compiled by Annie Banerji in NEW
DELHI; Editing by Anthony Barker)