Decrease in total sales of petroleum products

In 2007, sales of auto diesel exceeded sales of motor gasoline for the first time, and this trend continued every year, but not in in 2017.

Sales of auto diesel ended at 3.1 billion litres; 83 million litres less than in 2016 or a decrease of 2.7 per cent. During the period 2013 to 2016, sales increased by between 3 and 5 per cent from one year to the next.

Decreased sales of motor gasoline

During the period 2013-2015, the annual reduction in the sale of motor gasoline was between 61 and 88 million litres. From 2015 to 2017, the decline ebbed off. In 2017, total sales of motor gasoline amounted to 1.12 billion litres; 34 million litres less than in 2016.

Combined sales of auto diesel and motor gasoline ended at 4.3 billion litres in 2017; a decrease of 117 million litres or 2.7 per cent compared with the previous year.

At the end of 2016, electric cars made up 5.1 per cent of the passenger car stock, compared to 3.7 per cent at the end of 2016. Hybrid passenger cars corresponded to 5.3 per cent of the Stock. In 2017, the stock of diesel passenger cars increased by 1.4 per cent and accounted for 47.6 per cent of the passenger car stock.

Even though the sale of diesel cars gradually decreased after changing the one-time fee in 2012, the stock is still increasing. This is partly due to the fact that diesel cars are significantly newer than passenger cars on average and no large-scale replacement will take place for another few years. About four to five years ago, around half of the newly registered passenger cars were equipped with diesel engines. About 80 per cent of passenger cars on Norwegian roads are more than four years old. This means that there will still be many diesel passenger cars on Norwegian roads in the coming years. 

High percentage of biofuels in 2017

Biofuel is added to both auto diesel and motor gasoline. Figures from the Tax Administration show that 667.8 million litres of bioethanol and biodiesel were added in 2017. This resulted in a blend of about 15.6 per cent, which far exceeded the requirement of 8 per cent biofuel content in fuel in 2017.

Use of heavy distillate and heavy fuel oil

In January 2015, international legislation prohibiting the use of high sulphur content in fuel oil in shipping was introduced. The result was that sales halved from 2014 to 2015, and the reduction continued until 2016.

In 2017, however, the sales of heavy distillate and heavy fuel oil increased by 5.7 million litres.

In 2017, sales of light heating oils ended at 178 million litres. This is 34 million less than in 2016 and it is the fist year that annual sales have been below 200 million litres.

The sale of heating and lighting kerosene is marginal and amounted to 15 million litres in 2017; 4,4 million litres less than the year before.

Marine gas oil and diesel accounted for about 14 per cent of the total sales of petroleum product and 1.2 billion litres were sold in 2017. This is 111 million litres less than in 2016.

Sales of jet kerosene ended at 1.1 billion litres. This is an increase of about 42 million litres compared to 2016. Jet kerosene accounted for 13 per cent of the total petroleum product sales in 2017.