The leaders of the Luxembourg Petroleum Group (GPL) today presented recent developments on the Luxembourg oil market and took a stand on a number of issues.
In decline since 2012, the oil market saw a slight upward trend in 2017. Sales of petroleum products rose 4.9% over the previous year, but remained well below levels achieved in the 2005 reference year (-6.9%).
While the oil sector seems to have exceeded its zenith in Europe in terms of volume of products distributed, this trend reversal still underlines the leading role of petroleum products in the energy supply of the Grand Duchy, accounting for 2/3 of the final energy consumption in 2017. The increase in fuel sales in 2017 in Luxembourg is mainly due to a dynamic economic situation at both European and Luxembourg level.
In addition, the GPL has announced a future change concerning the display of petroleum products on petrol stations, in accordance with the EN 16942 standard, mandatory in Europe from October 2018. The purpose is to standardise the display of different fuels in Europe. The same acronyms will be affixed to the tank of newly registered cars to prevent consumers from taking the wrong fuel for their vehicle. This also displays the rate of biofuels contained in various petroleum products, namely the maximum level of ethanol contained in gasoline or the maximum rate of biodiesel contained in diesel.
Another upcoming change will be the introduction of 95 E10 fuel containing up to 10% ethanol. Already available in neighbouring countries for years, the introduction of this kind of fuel is one of the measures aimed at Luxembourg reaching its renewable energy targets.This will be accompanied by an information campaign towards the end of the year with the distribution of flyers and a website: www.95e10.lu.
Finally, the GPL recalled that Luxembourg is a small country that depends largely on its neighbouring countries to meet its energy needs. For this reason, the Group considers it imperative to support a European framework that allows the sector to remain competitive and reliably provide the energy needed for the development of the national economy.
