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Oil consumption falling in Italy in 2023. According to the first provisional data from Unem (Union of Energy for Mobility), total consumption fell by 1.5% compared to 2022, largely due to the sharp decline in petrochemicals ( -488,000 tons), naval bunkers (-206,000) and fuel oil consumption for thermoelectric power (-255,000), despite the support of road mobility and the recovery of air transport which together exceeded the volumes of the same by almost 650,000 tons period of last year.
Petrol on the rise
Petrol, with almost 8.2 million tonnes (+3.8%, +300,000 tonnes), drove fuels, partly offsetting the decrease in motor diesel, down 1.9% (-447,000 tonnes) with a strong decline in the wholesale channel (-3.8%).
Contraction in December
In December, again according to Unem data, overall Italian oil consumption decreased by 2.2% compared to the same month of 2022 with the substantial elimination of the use of fuel oil in thermoelectric power.
Total sales to the market fell slightly – i.e. excluding from total consumption those connected to industrial refining activities – which overall fell by 1.3% (-55,000 tonnes), in particular due to the slowdown in network products penalized by two fewer working days towards December 2022.
Petrol +10% on pre-Covid
However, if the comparison is made with respect to the pre-pandemic period and with the same number of working days, petrol shows a progress of around 10%, while diesel is slightly lower. A positive contribution came from air transport which confirmed volumes higher than pre-Covid levels. Yet another confirmation of the positive trends for bitumen and lubricants.