Gasoline sales volumes in Australia opened 2023 with a quarterly drop of 2.221 billion liters after reaching their highest level since early 2020 in the early days of the COVID pandemic, the regulator reported on Tuesday. the competition of the country.
Sales hit a pandemic record 2.333 billion liters in the final quarter of 2022, the year sales settled further after disruptions due to health restrictions, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said. in its quarterly report on the oil market. Quarter-on-quarter changes did not exceed five percent last year.
“… The COVID-19 restrictions imposed in mid-March 2020 resulted in average petrol sales volumes in Australia being substantially lower than the June 2020 quarter. Petrol sales volumes partially recovered in the following 2 quarters as restrictions in parts of Australia eased,” he said. . “They were flat in the first 2 quarters of 2021, before declining significantly in the September quarter of 2021. In the December quarter of 2021, sales volumes recovered.”
Average quarterly sales rose four percent in 2022 to 2.269 billion liters from 2.175 billion liters in 2021. Last year’s quarterly average was eight percent higher compared to 2.094 billion liters recorded in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
But sales have not returned to pre-Covid levels, with last year’s quarterly average seven percent below the 2.43 billion liters recorded in 2019.
“There are a number of reasons why gasoline sales volumes may not have returned to pre-Covid-19 levels. These include increased purchases of electric vehicles; motorists not buying as much gasoline as in the past due to increased work-from-home arrangements; and the ongoing trend for vehicles to become more fuel efficient,” the ACCC said.
Lower prices
Motor vehicle fuel prices in Australia fell by 0.8 per cent between January and March 2023 compared to the previous quarter. Diesel prices fell 10.3 percent, while unleaded gasoline prices stagnated.
The decline helped soften inflation in Australia, with the consumer price (CPU) rising 0.5 percent from October to December 2022 from 1.4 percent.
In the year to March 2023, the CPI rose seven per cent, with auto fuel prices rising 1.1 per cent, but underperformed from 2022. The CPI rose 7.8 percent last year, with motor vehicle fuel prices up 13.2 percent.
“The March 2023 quarter represents one year since the invasion of Ukraine, which saw auto fuel prices increase by 11.0% in the March 2022 quarter,” the report noted.
Higher refining profits
In 2022, the first year of the Russia-Ukraine war, Australia’s two refiners saw earnings rise as commodity prices rose.
Ampol Ltd. reported earnings of $686.7 million before interest and tax on a replacement cost basis for the Lytton refinery in the city of Brisbane, more than four times from 2021, according to the company’s annual report 2022 company.
For the City of Geelong Refinery, Viva Energy Group Ltd. reported a 452 percent rise in profit before deductions on a replacement cost basis to $504.4 million, it said in its annual report.
Energy prices rose in 2022 as governments responded with sanctions against Russia over the war. On 4 February 2023, Australia joined the European Union and the Group of Seven powers in agreeing price caps of up to $100 a barrel for Russian refined oil products.
“This decision will further affect Russia’s income and reduce its ability to wage war in Ukraine,” the EU said in a media statement on the same day. “It will also help stabilize global energy markets, benefiting countries around the world.”
Brent, the international benchmark for spot prices, hit its highest annual average in 2022 at $100.93 a barrel, while the global standard Henry Hub for natural gas averaged $6.45 per million British thermal units (Btu), the largest U.S. distribution center since 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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