Clearances of autodiesel in February 2022 were 33% higher than in February 2021, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
But we are not at full pre-pandemic levels just yet, with the February 2022 figure of 283 million litres, 4% lower than in February 2020, just before Covid-19 hit.
Clearances
This is the excise duty that is paid on products – diesel, petrol, kerosene, etc. – when they arrive into the country, as opposed to when they are sold at the forecourt.
Clearances of petrol in February 2022 were higher than 2021 figures but lower than 2020.
At 66 million litres, petrol clearances were 55% higher than February 2021 and 15% lower than February 2020.
Clearances of kerosene, mainly used as a home-heating fuel, in February 2022 were 7% lower than in February 2021.
Excise clearances of marked gas oil in February 2022 were 10% higher than in February 2021.
Marked gas oil is used for off-road purposes such as agriculture and heating of larger buildings.
Figure 2 shows the annual time series trend for the four fuels for 2000 to 2021.
The annual total for unleaded petrol volumes for 2021 was 825 million litres, 7% higher than in 2020.
The annual volume of autodiesel was around 3.4 billion litres in 2021, an increase of 7% on 2020 volumes.
The February 2022 Wholesale Price Index for both autodiesel and petrol were the highest since records began in 2000.