4 | Statistical Review | 2022
Introduction I am delighted as new Chief Executive Officer of UKPIA to bring you the 2022 edition of the UKPIA Statistical Review - a comprehensive and quick reference on the latest available data from the downstream sector. The Review provides analysis for those working in industry, policymakers and all who wish to gain a quantitative understanding of the UK industry. We are now emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic but as the statistics here remind us, we have lived through extraordinary years for the world as governments took action to protect public health by locking down economies. With working from home restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the virus, demand for refinery products fell as did production across the sector. These historic challenges meant that members were not able to make a profit, instead seeing net losses in 2020 of £1.8 billion. Despite the challenge of Covid-19, the sector continued its efforts to achieve Net Zero and companies continued to invest heavily in projects to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, with Fulcrum BioEnergy and Essar announcing plans for a waste-to-fuel plant in the North West of England and Shell signing an agreement with Uniper to produce blue hydrogen in the East of England being just two of many recent announcements in the past year. Another cause for optimism has come with large annual increases to the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) that are helping to reduce emissions from the transport sector. Since the 1st September 2021, standard (or ‘premium’) grade petrol, known as E10, has contained a higher ethanol content in Great Britain with the change expected to reduce transport carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of taking up to 350,000 cars off our roads. Of course 2021 and 2022 have also come with other challenges. A spike in demand last autumn, extended protest activities targeting fuel supply chains and the repercussions of the war in Ukraine have all provided unique challenges for fuel suppliers but have also shown the importance of close working between governments and industry stakeholders that UKPIA is so passionate to promote. Those events and emerging trends will no doubt feature in future editions of this publication but as ever we in UKPIA welcome your questions and endeavour to provide the best information on the sector. I trust you will find the UKPIA Statistical Review 2022 a valuable resource. Elizabeth de Jong – Chief Executive Officer, UKPIA
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