India oil demand rises for first since February

In a sign of economic recovery gathering traction, India's total petroleum demand rose 2.7% year-on-year in October, reaching 17.8 million tons, according to provisional data published by the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell. That's the first monthly rise since February. 

Notably, demand for naphtha soared and consumption of the petrochemical industry feedstock surged 15%, according to Bloomberg. The country’s market for refined products should be “near normal” by the first quarter of next year, Indian Oil Corp. Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said at the Adipec conference on Thursday.

The Indian government imposed a lockdown in the last week of March to contain the coronavirus which remained in effect almost till the end of September.