Oil Products

Monthly Deliveries of Oil-product Fuels

Table shows Observed Gross Inland Deliveries (GID) of five oil products in terajoules (TJ), during the last three months plus year to date (YTD). Descriptions of GID and TJ appear after the time-series graphs (link).

Accumulated YTD deliveries this year, are compared to the accumulated deliveries during the same period last year. Percentage changes compare the most recent month's deliveries to one month and two months ago.

Commentary

A review of January 2019 to April 2021 deliveries is available (link).

Gross Inland Deliveries and Oil-product Flows

Annex C of Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2146 on energy statistics describes Observed Gross Inland Deliveries (GID) as:

“The observed delivery of finished petroleum products from primary sources (e.g. refineries, blending plants etc.) to the inland market.”

Note that “observed” deliveries imply a bottom-up method of calculation. The description refers to an “inland market” that, for these statistics, means Ireland (without Northern Ireland). The International Energy Agency (IEA) uses an identical description of observed GID, while adding a top-down method to find Calculated Gross Inland Deliveries (IEA, 2019).

Calculated GID from Oil-product Flows

Gross inland deliveries (GID) are the quantities of oil-products flowing through the market from production to delivery, now ready sale or consumption. In practice, other flows earlier in the market determine the quantities remaining in GID. Refinery outputs, imports and stock draws increase GID quantities; whereas exports, international marine bunkers and stock builds decrease GID quantities. Interproduct transfers result from reclassification of products; therefore are reported as a negative value for one product compensated by a positive value for another product. The following equation shows the sequence of oil-product flows, as additions (+) or subtractions (-), to find Calculated Gross Inland Deliveries (IEA, 2019, p. 14):

Gross Inland Delivery =

+ Primary product receipts

+ Refinery gross output

+ Recycled products

- Refinery fuel

+ Imports

- Exports

- International marine bunkers

+ Interproduct transfers

- Products transferred

- Stocks changes

Terajoules Energy Units

Generally, energy statistics for oil and oil products are reported by mass or volume, using kilotonne or litre units respectively. Since the calorific values of oil products vary, conversions to energy units allows easier comparisons. SEAI’s monthly oil-product statistics are expressed in units of energy, terajoules (TJ) that equals 10¹² joules. Values in energy units are calculated using conversion factors (SEAI, 2021).

References

Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2146 of 26 November 2019 amending Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics, as regards the implementation of updates for the annual, monthly and short-term monthly energy statistics. https://op.europa.eu/s/phOw

IEA. (2019). Oil Annual Questionnaire 2017-2021. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/39c58277-709c-41f5-88ee-1643903aaf19/Oil_Questionnaire_Instructions.pdf

SEAI. (2021). Conversion Factors. Ireland’s Energy Statistics. https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/conversion-factors/