Domestic demand for oil products fell 3% to 3,705, 000 tonnes of oil equivalent in the period between late October 2022 and late October 2023, according to the monthly report on the energy situation published by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.
This is the case for fuel (-20%), petrol (-3%) and diesel fuel (-7%.). Meanwhile, demand for jet fuel and petroleum coke grew 19% and 11%, respectively.
The pattern of petroleum products consumption remained almost unchanged between late October 2022 and late October 2023, except for some products, notably fuel which share fell from 5% to 4%.
Diesel also trended downwards from 45% to 44% during the same period, while petcoke rose from 11% to 12% and jet fuel edged up from 5% in October 2022 to 6%.
Fuels for road transport (62% of total petroleum products) dropped 6% between October 2022 and late Occtober 2023.
LPG consumption showed signs of quasi-stability during this same period. The consumption of petcoke, exclusively used in the cement industry and
substituted by natural gas and heavy fuel oil, posted a rise of 11%.
The consumption of jet fuel edged up 19% at the end of October 2023 compared to same period last year, driven by a recovery in the pandemic-hit air transport sector.
Total natural gas demand declines 4% at end of October 2023
Demand of natural gas posted a 4% drop to 4 019 thousand tons of oil equivalent (ktoe)in the period between October 2022 and late October 2023.
Demand for power generation dipped 3% as a result of limited availability of natural gas while not reflecting demand in the electric power sector.
The power generation sector is by far the biggest consumer of natural gas (73% of total demand at the end of September 2023). Power generation is based on natural gas (over
97%).
For end uses (excluding electricity production), demand for natural gas dropped 8% to 1100 ktoe. Demand by low and medium-voltage customers plunged 5% , while high-voltage customers saw their demand drop 16%
Overall specific consumption of means of ge
nerating electricity (STEG+independent power producers IPP) showed a 1.1% improvement (1.1%) in the period between late October 2022 and late October 2023, standing at 200.5 toe/GWh.
The production of electricity from natural gas dropped 2%, while natural gas demand by the electricity production sector fell 3%.
A 78% rise in the combined production of electric power was reported by late October compared to 77% one year earlier.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse