The national demand for petroleum products decreased by 3% between the end of November 2022 and the end of November 2023, reaching 4040 kilotonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe), according to the monthly report on the energy situation for November 2023 published on Monday by the National Observatory of Energy and Mines. The Observatory noted a 19% drop in demand for motor fuels, 3% for petrol and 7% for diesel. However, the demand for aviation kerosene increased by 15% and the demand for petroleum coke by 5%. The consumption structure of petroleum products remained relatively unchanged between the end of November 2022 and the end of November 2023, with a few exceptions. The share of gasoline decreased from 5% to 4%, diesel from 46% to 44%, petroleum coke from 11% to 12% and jet fuel from 5% to 6% over the same period. Road fuel consumption went down by 6% between the end of November 2022 and the end of November 2023, accounting for 62% of total petroleum product consumption. On the other hand, GPL consumption i ncreased slightly by 1% over the same period. Petroleum coke consumption rose by 5% between end-November 2022 and end-November 2023 (partly estimated data), indicating its exclusive use by cement plants and its substitutability with natural gas and heavy fuel oil. In addition, aviation kerosene consumption posted a significant increase of 15% at the end of November 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, due to the recovery of activities in the air transport sector, which had been severely affected by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 4% decrease in total gas demand at end November 2023 Total natural gas demand decreased by 4% between the end of November 2022 and the end of November 2023, amounting to 4352 ktoe. Demand for electricity generation decreased by 2% and demand for final consumption went down by 9%. The power generation sector remains the largest consumer of natural gas, accounting for 73% of the total demand at the end of November 2023, mainly relying on natural gas with over 97%. The Observatory stressed that the decline in demand in the electricity sector is due to the limited availability of natural gas and does not accurately reflect the sector's demand. In the end use sector (excluding electricity generation), demand for natural gas fell by 9% to 1202 ktoe. Demand from medium and low pressure customers decreased by 5%, while high pressure customers' demand went down 16%. It is worth noting that the IPP-Rades power plant joined the STEG fleet from June 2022. The total specific consumption of electricity production plants (STEG and IPP) improved slightly by 0.5% between the end of November 2022 and the end of November 2023, reaching 200.9 toe/GWh. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse