Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 18.72 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

Sales of gasoline, or petrol, were 2.0 percent higher from a year earlier at 2.46 million tonnes.

Cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales increased 14.4 percent to 2.05 million tonnes, while naphtha sales surged 3.6 percent to 1.04 million tonnes.

Sales of bitumen, used for making roads, were 3.2 percent up, while fuel oil use edged lower 13.5 percent in May.