Australian Petroleum Statistics – March 2023

12 May 2023 5:27pm

The Australian Petroleum Statistics are available in an interactive slide format to make it easy to access the official statistics on Australia’s petroleum supply and use. We will continue to enhance the publication and we welcome feedback to petroleum.statistics@dcceew.gov.au.

The March 2023 Australian Petroleum Statistics are also available as an Excel document.

The monthly publication collects national and state statistics on:

sales of petroleum products
exports and imports of petroleum products and crude oil
production of crude oil and condensate
refinery input and output
stocks of petroleum products.

March 2023 highlights

Stocks

Total oil stocks as at end of March 2023 fell by 2% compared with February 2023. Refined product stocks fell by 5% while crude oil and other refinery feedstocks rose by 10%.
Petrol stocks were 12% lower in March 2023 compared with the previous month and were around the same as this time last year.
Jet fuel stocks were 4% higher in March 2023 compared with the previous month and 17% lower than March 2022.
Diesel stocks were 11% lower in March 2023 compared with the previous month and 13% higher than March 2022.
IEA days of net import cover fell from 62 days in February to 61 days in March 2023.
If stock on water and overseas destined for Australia were included, Australia would have had 86 IEA days at the end of March 2023.
Stock measurements are taken on the last day of each month and are subject to considerable fluctuation month-to-month, due to shipping schedules, short term/seasonal demand patterns, and other market factors.
Australia had petrol stocks equivalent to 28 days of consumption as at the end of March 2023, down from both the 33 days in February and the 29 days on average in 2022.
Australia had diesel stocks equivalent to 21 days of consumption as at the end of March 2023, down from 23 days in February and equal to the average of 21 days in 2022.
Australia had jet fuel stocks equivalent to 19 days of consumption as at the end of March 2023, similar to February and down from 34 days on average in 2022.

Upstream production

Crude oil and condensate production was 3% higher in March compared with the previous month and was 9% lower than the same time last year. On a daily production basis, crude oil and condensate fell 7% month from February to March 2023.
LPG production was 13% higher in March compared to February and was 20% lower than the same time last year. This represents a 2% increase in daily production compared to February.
Natural gas production was 8% higher in March 2023 compared to February and a similar level to March 2022. Daily production fell 3% month on month.

Refining

Total refinery production in March 2023 fell by 1% compared to February, reflecting a 10% fall in daily production.
Diesel represented 35% of domestic refinery production in March 2023.
Petrol represented 39% of production in March 2023.
In March 2023, total domestic refinery output volumes represented around 23% of total fuel sales volumes for the same month, lower than the 26% average in calendar year 2022.

Consumption

Total sales of refined products rose by 13% in March 2023 compared to the previous month.
Petrol total sales were up 14% and diesel sales were up 13%. This reflects an increase in daily sales of 3% and 2% respectively for petrol and diesel in March 2023.
Total jet fuel sales rose by 13% in March 2023 compared to the previous month. This result is made up of an 8% increase in daily sales of domestic jet fuel being partially offset by a 3% fall in daily sales of international jet fuel.
Domestic jet fuel sales in March 2023 was around 348 million litres, the largest volume since August 2016.

International trade

Total oil imports in March 2023 were 6% higher compared with the previous month. Total refined products imports rose by 12% while crude oil and other refinery feedstocks imports fell by 20% compared to previous month.
Diesel imports reached the highest level on record at over 2.8 billion litres, representing a 22% increase compared to February and 10% higher on a daily basis for the month.
Daily jet fuel and petrol imports both fell by 18%, resulting in 9% monthly falls compared to February 2023.
Total oil exports in March 2023 fell by 13% on a daily basis, resulting in a 3% monthly fall compared to February 2023.