Fuel consumption in August 4% higher than in July, maintaining upward trend – ERSE

Fuel consumption in Portugal increased 17% in August, compared to the same month in 2020, and 4% compared to July, maintaining the upward trajectory that began in February, the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) said on Tuesday.

“The consumption of oil-derived fuels, considering petrol, diesel, ‘jet’ [jet fuel] and LPG [liquefied petroleum gas], increased (4.0%), maintaining the upward trajectory started in February,” ERSE indicated today, in the Fuel and LPG Market Bulletin for August 2021.

Consumption in August was 17% higher (561 kilotonnes (ktonnes)) than the same period in 2020, with increases in the consumption of ‘jet’ (64.2%), gasoline (11.5%), diesel (11.4%) and LPG (9.1%).

Compared with July, overall fuel consumption rose by 25.15 ktonnes, with jet fuel up by 15.04 ktonnes, petrol by 8.59 ktonnes and diesel by 2.14 ktonnes, equivalent to variations of 17.6%, 9.1% and 0.5% respectively.

In contrast, LPG consumption fell by 0.61 kton in August, representing a variation of 1.9% over the previous month.

According to the energy regulator, “deconfinement measures have been the main reason for the increase in consumption of oil derivatives”, as well as the usual seasonal effect of the summer holidays.

ERSE also highlighted the average retail price (RRP) of diesel, which followed the international market price, registering a 0.7% decrease compared to the previous month, to 1.498 euros per litre.

In the opposite direction, the average RRP of petrol registered an update of 0.2% in the same period, to 1.717 euros per litre.

Hypermarkets maintained the most competitive offers in road fuels, followed by operators in the ‘low cost’ segment, the regulator pointed out.

Braga, Castelo Branco and Santarem had the lowest diesel and petrol prices in August, while Bragança, Beja, Lisbon and Faro had the highest prices.