New Zealand Q1 oil product demand down 6.8%; diesel bucks trend

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - New Zealand's refined product consumption dropped 6.8% in the first quarter of the year to 1.737 million mt, led lower by a fall in road fuel demand and a small dip in jet fuel consumption, according to data released Thursday by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Gasoline and diesel usage fell 8.4% and 5.9% from the fourth quarter to 580,730 mt and 822,470 mt respectively, while jet fuel demand dropped 1.3% to 132,270 mt.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, jet fuel consumption remained the most depressed at 68.5% down from first quarter 2019, in line with the performance in each of the previous three quarters compared to 2019 equivalents.

A huge slowdown in international travel to and from New Zealand was to blame for the drop in jet demand, although figures for domestic flights have been increasing for each of the last three quarters since pandemic alert levels were lowered last June.

Diesel sales were also up 2.2% compared to Q1 2019, despite the quarterly fall.

Alert levels increased in February following an increase in cases, but were reduced to the lowest level of 1 again throughout the country in mid-March.