The consumption of liquid fuels remained unchanged until September compared to the same period in 2024, rising 0.2% to 4,364 thousand tons, with gasoline sales surpassing the decline in road diesel, according to sector data.
In the first nine months of this year, accumulated sales of liquid fuels represented 4,364 thousand tons, compared to 4,357 thousand tons in the same period last year, according to data released this Monday, 10th, by Empresas Portuguesas de Combustíveis e Lubrificantes (Epcol).
By product, gasoline saw a 7.3% increase in sales, to 1,016 thousand tons, offsetting the drop of 62 thousand tons (1, Rise in gasoline offsets drop in diesel and fuel sales remain until September 8%) in road diesel, which totaled 3,348 thousand tons.
As for liquefied gases, there was an accumulated decline of 4.7% in the first three quarters, to 326 thousand tons.
Autogas was the only product included here that rose, in the order of 13.3% to 46 thousand tons, while butane (-11.9% to 85 thousand tons) and propane (-5.0% to 195 thousand tons) registered decreases.
In the third quarter of this year alone, there was a year-on-year decline of 0.7%, to 1,530 thousand tons, despite a 3.4% increase overall.
Between July and September this year, 1,151 thousand tons of road diesel and 380 thousand tons of gasoline were sold, representing, respectively, year-on-year variations of -3.0% and 7.1% and chain-on-quarter variations of 1.1% and 10.8%.
In liquefied gases, there were decreases both in chain (-11.8%) and in year-on-year terms (-3.5%), to 96 thousand tons.
Autogas grew 14.1% year-on-year and 9.0% compared to the second quarter to 17 thousand tons, while butane and propane fell 10.0% and 5.0% compared to the same period last year, to 24 thousand tons and 55 thousand tons. Overall, the decline in sales of these products was 14.8% in the case of butane and 15.8% in the case of propane.
In October, Epcol released statistics relating to average retail prices (PMVP) in Portugal for the third quarter.
In year-on-year terms, between July and September, the PMVP of gasoline 95 and road diesel rose 0.1% and 1.4% to 1.696 euros per liter and 1.571 euros per liter, while that of autogas fell 3.7% to 0.822 euros per liter.
Epcol data also shows that, in the same period, there were year-on-year declines in the average price before taxes of 4.6% in the case of gasoline 95 (0.744 euros per liter), 3.0% in the case of road diesel (0.773 euros per liter) and 6.4% in the case of autogas (0.438 euros per liter).