Irish ethanol, biodiesel demand up in June

Irish ethanol and biodiesel demand fell in June from May, tracking falls in gasoline and diesel demand, but was up from a year earlier by 1pc and 17pc respectively.

The annual increase follows a rise in the country's biofuel blending mandates at the start of the year, which outweighed a year-on-year fall in gasoline and biodiesel consumption.

Ireland blended 3,077t of ethanol into gasoline in June, a decline of 4.2pc from a revised figure of 3,211t for May, according to the National Oil Reserve Agency (Nora), and up slightly from 3,047t in June 2021. Ethanol accounted for just over 5.2pc of overall gasoline demand, broadly in line with the 5.1pc in May and in June 2021. Gasoline consumption in Ireland fell month-on-month by 5.6pc, and was down by 1pc from a year earlier.

Biodiesel demand fell by around 4.9pc on the month to 17,432t in June from a revised figure of 18,321t for May, but was up from 14,893t in June 2021. Irish diesel consumption fell by 5.5pc compared to May, and was down 3.7pc on June last year.

The country's biofuel obligation increased in January, with biodiesel and ethanol now required to reach 14.9pc of the motor fuel pool by volume from around 12pc previously. Ireland has not proposed any mandate changes in response to rising fuel prices and concerns about food security arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Notably, Finland, Latvia and Sweden have taken actions on these areas.

By Thomas Hughes