The demand for diesel is rising at 25 per cent annually, while the crude oil refiners are capable of catering to only 12-15 per cent growth.
"A crisis in the availability of diesel is a strong possibility till new refinery capacities come up," said a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) official, which operates around 9 per cent of the country's refining capacity.
The country's refineries produced around 58 million tonnes of diesel in 2007-08.
Diesel is about 31 per cent cheaper than petrol because of higher subsidies. As a result, its consumption outstrips that of petrol by nearly four and a half times.
The ratio could be skewed further in favour of diesel in the days to come. In contrast to the 25 per cent growth in the demand for diesel, growth in petrol demand is 10-11 per cent.
Over the last 8-9 months, diesel demand has grown further due to increased use in power generators. "The demand growth is due to higher use of diesel in generator sets," said Sarthak Behuria, chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which controls over 40 per cent of the country's oil refining capacity.
The demand from industry has also increased as prices of other fuels such as naphtha have nearly doubled in the last year.
The three government-owned refineries
