Nothing, it seems, can quench the UK’s thirst for diesel, with demand for the road fuel rising once again in the third quarter of 2014, according to new figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Demand in Q3 for road diesel, including biodiesel, reached just under 7.1 billion litres, up 4% compared to the same quarter the previous year. After the first three quarters of 2014, road diesel demand had reached 20.73 billion litres, up 3.9% on 2013.
Of total road diesel demand in Q3 last year, just under 1.95 billion litres (up 1.5% from 1.92 billion litres in Q3 2013) were sold through supermarket forecourts; while almost 2.48 billion litres (up 4.3% from 2.37 billion litres in Q3 2013) were bulk deliveries direct to end users, showed the DECC statistics.
Demand for petrol, however, continued to decline, falling 2.5% in Q3 to 4.45 billion litres (Q3 2013: 4.57 billion litres), as more general motorists continued to switch from unleaded to diesel fuel – seemingly unconcerned by planned schemes like London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone that are beginning to target diesel engines for their production of particulate matter.
In Q3 last year, diesel accounted for 65% of all road fuel, compared to 63% in Q3 2013 and 61% in Q3 2012.
Demand for road fuels can only be further bolstered by the recent slide in the oil price and the resulting falls in forecourt and bulk diesel prices. At the time of writing, the average forecourt diesel price stood just over £1.08/litre, according to the RAC Foundation; while the average bulk diesel price was just under 86p/litre, according to energy market analysts EnergyQuote JHA.