Crude oil imports from United Arab Emirates worth $2.7b

New Zealand’s highest valued import from a single trade partner for the year ended September 2019 was crude oil from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), valued at $2.7 billion, Stats NZ said today.

The UAE was our largest source of crude oil imports, followed by Malaysia (valued at $632 million). In the last 15 years, the value of crude oil imports from UAE has ranged from $164 million in the September 2012 year to $2.7 billion in 2019.

Imported crude oil is processed at the Marsden Point Refinery into fuels, bitumen for roading, and other products.

“About 60 percent of imported crude is refined into petrol and diesel. We use this to power our vehicles along with directly imported fuels. In one year, we consume about 1,200 litres of petrol and diesel per person,” international statistics manager Peter Dolan said.

“Crude oil and vehicles are among our top imports.”

New Zealand imported $7.2 billion worth of vehicles, including more than 263,000 cars worth $4.5 billion, in the year ended September 2019. Japan was our largest source of vehicle imports ($2.2 billion), followed by the European Union ($2.0 billion), and Thailand ($1.3 billion).

“The Middle East – which includes UAE – accounted for two-thirds of our crude oil imports in the September 2019 year,” Mr Dolan said.

“Southeast Asia and Russia are other important sources.”

The value of crude oil imports from all countries was $4.3 billion in the year ended September 2019, 5.2 percent of total imports.

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