Fuels consumption still affected by COVID-19 in 2021

Since early 2020, EU Member States have been taking restrictive measures to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This didn’t stop in 2021, when different waves of COVID-19 outbreaks required the Member States to react, resulting in a considerable decrease in petroleum products consumption in the EU.

Consumption of motor gasoline, kerosene-type jet fuel and gas and diesel oil used for transport of people, heating and products were severely affected, and none of the fuels has completely returned to pre-COVID levels.

While in 2020, EU Member States showed a combined decrease in motor gasoline consumption of 11% (from 74 million tonnes to 66 million tonnes) compared to 2019 levels, this value stands at a 5% decrease in 2021 (from 74 million tonnes to 70.4 million tonnes in 2021). The biggest declines in consumption were registered in Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain (more than a 20% decrease in each).

As every Member State’s air transport was profoundly affected, consumption of kerosene-type jet fuel fell drastically in 2020 compared to 2019 (-56%) and did not recover considerably in 2021 (still -46%). In 2020 and 2021, the smallest reductions in consumption were registered in Luxembourg and Belgium, while Croatia, Romania and Cyprus saw the largest decreases.

EU consumption of gas and diesel oil down 7 %

In terms of gas and diesel oil, in 2020, EU wide consumption fell by 7 %, especially in Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and Slovenia. Only in Finland, Cyprus and Romania was consumption greater than in 2019. In 2021, EU consumption increased but was still below 2019 levels (-6%). In some cases, like Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece, consumption in 2021 compared to 2019 levels fell to even lower levels than in 2020, while in 10 Member States the use of gas and diesel oil increased above 2019 levels (Romania, Estonia, Croatia, Poland, Cyprus, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Sweden and Latvia).

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by Virginia