Lockdown sees fuel demand tank to a fraction of old level

PETROL imports collapsed by more than half after the lockdown was ordered as many people stopped driving, newly released official figures have revealed.

Fuel demand dwindled to a fraction of its normal level with just emergency vehicles, hauliers and delivery drivers left on the streets.

Imports of petroleum – which includes petrol, diesel, kerosene home-heating oil and jet fuel – dropped by €249million to €211million in April compared to a year earlier. Total imports were down €1.5billion in April compared to a year earlier, to €5.8billion.

Exports slumped massively too, down from €12.8billion in April last year to €11.5billion this April.

Trade with our biggest business partner, Britain, was down by €305million – a drop of 26% – to €865million in April compared to a year earlier.

The Central Statistics Office reported that the value of goods exports to Britain in the first four months of the year was €4.14billion, a decrease of 8% – €340million – compared to last year.

‘Imports from Great Britain were relatively unchanged, as they decreased by €2million (-0.2%) to €1.439billion compared with April 2019. Imports from Great Britain were 25% of the value of total imports in April 2020. ‘The value of goods imports from Great Britain for January to April 2020 was €6.169billion, a decrease of €204million (-3%), compared with the first four months of 2019,’ the CSO reported..

As well as a slump in traffic on roads, flights were down to around 10% of their normal level.

The Green Party’s climate action and environment spokesman, Brian Leddin TD, said: ‘While much of the decline in petroleum imports may be down to the general pausing of economic activity because of the Covid pandemic, I am still optimistic that home working will continue to be a positive option for many workers and employers, and this will lead to a decrease in emissions, traffic congestion, and time lost commuting.

‘Home working isn’t an option for everyone but I think many will start working at home for at least a day a week, and I would encourage employers to be flexible about facilitating this. In recent months, we have seen how the videoconferencing technology is robust and we all have a high degree of confidence in it now.’

Irish Petroleum Industry Association chief Kevin McPartlan said: ‘While we kept forecourts open to ensure emergency vehicles, hauliers, key workers, delivery drivers and other essential services remained on the road, the public health measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 had a very significant impact on sales volumes of diesel and petrol.

‘On the other hand, demand from 40% of Irish families who rely on oil to heat their homes actually increased during lockdown. The necessity to stay home coincided with a historic drop in the price of kerosene, and many customers took the chance to fill their tanks.’

Petrol stations store a different blend of fuel in their tanks in winter and summer, and because of the timing of the lockdown, many garages had winter-blend fuel.

At the beginning of the lockdown, petrol sales dropped by 85%, which meant the garages still had their winter fuel in their storage tanks.

The difference between summerand winter-blend fuel is how easily it evaporates. Winter-blend fuel must be able to evaporate at low temperatures for the engine to operate properly, especially when the engine is cold.

In contrast, summer-blend fuel has a lower evaporation rate to prevent losing too much when outside temperatures rise.

Despite the slump in traffic, the AA’s breakdown service has been ‘as busy as ever’.

AA Ireland spokesman Conor Faughnan said: ‘Breakdown numbers are down on last year but not madly so. We’ve also been following the numbers of traffic volumes and it’s growing.’

Week-on-week traffic between June 2 and June 10 on the N11 from Bray into Dublin was up 17%, the Red Cow on the M50 increased 12%, and the N7 at Naas, Co. Kildare, rose by 7%.

Traffic at Mahon, Cork, was up 14%, Galway rose 10%, and Adare, Co. Limerick, increased 15%.

‘What you see very clearly is a pattern of volumes going up; it didn’t start on Monday of last week, it’s been a gradual increase and it’s starting to look more and more like normal,’ added the AA’s Mr Faughnan.

Trade with Britain was down by 26%

A spokesman for the Irish Petrol Retailers Association said: ‘Some members are down 50%, others are down by 30%.

‘We reckon it will never come back to what it was because a lot of people now are working from home and a lot will probably lose their jobs.’

The spokesman added that ‘it’s down substantially’, and said: At the beginning it was down 70% for petrol and 50% for diesel, now it’s down about 50% petrol and 25% diesel.

‘It’s not a surprise but by next year we think it’ll come back by 80% of what it was once people start travelling again. There’s no tourism in the country either; tourists hire cars and they buy fuel as well. The country is not going back to what it was, a lot of people who were commuting will be working from home.

‘Our members are down about 40% as of now but it will change at the end of the month when everybody’s travelling – but it won’t go back to where it was.’