Australia's April jet fuel sales plunge to new lows

Spanish Market: Oil products
16/06/20

Australia's jet fuel sales in April fell to new lows as Covid-19 travel restrictions continued to weigh on the country's aviation sector.

Jet fuel sales dropped to 32,000 b/d in April from 114,000 b/d in March and 159,000 b/d a year earlier, according to the Australian Petroleum Statistics (APS) data.

The largest fall in sales was for international flights from Australian airports. These averaged around 20,000 b/d in April from an average of 67,000 b/d in March, 100,000 b/d a year earlier and 103,000 b/d in the 2018-19 fiscal year to 30 June.

Jet fuel sales for domestic flights fell to an average of around 12,000 b/d in April, down from 47,000 b/d in March, 58,000 b/d the previous year and 59,000 b/d in 2018-19.

The slump in jet fuel sales reflects the steep fall in tourists arriving to Australia, as well as the number of passengers departing Australia in April.

Jet fuel sales are expected to fall even further in May with preliminary passenger data showing steeper falls in the number of passengers arriving and departing Australia, based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australia's arrivals dropped to 19,400 in May from 21,620 in April and a fraction of the 1.59mn arrivals in May 2019. The total number of departures fell to 25,420 in May from 63,520 in April and below the 1.64mn departing a year earlier.

Australia's jet fuel output from domestic refineries also hit news lows in April. Refined aviation fuel production fell to 17,000 b/d in April, down from 47,000 b/d in March and 68,000 b/d a year earlier.

The country's jet fuel imports dropped to 30,000 b/d in April from 92,000 b/d in March and 121,000 b/d the previous year.

By Kevin Morrison

Australia jet fuel sales (b/d)
	Domestic	International	Total	Refinery output	Imports

Apr '20	12,285	19,958	32,243	17,212	29,846
Mar '20	47,028	67,052	114,080	46,987	91,912
Apr '19	58,008	100,461	158,470	68,323	120,445
Source: APS

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13/05/25

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13/05/25

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12/05/25

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12/05/25

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