Australia crude imports up 9.6% in March, products imports 17.4% higher

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Imports of crude oil into Australia increased 9.6% on the month in March to 1.435 billion litres, marking the third month of recovery, and as domestic sales of oil products also continued higher, showed government data released Wednesday.

Crude imports were still down 26.6% from March 2020, before pandemic related lockdowns had been implemented, said the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

Demand for products was led higher by an uptick in diesel and gasoline sales, which increased 11.8% and 13.7% on the month to 2.628 billion and 1.457 billion litres, respectively.

Imports of refined products also rose on the month, gaining 17.4% to 3.19 billion litres, of which 2.04 billion was diesel, representing a 31% month-on-month rise for the distillate.

Gasoline imports fell however, at 730.2 billion litres, down 5.3%.

Despite the higher crude imports, refinery input figures showed a 7.6% drop to 1.689 billion litres.