Petroleum sales up 23 percent to 1.82 million tons in March

KARACHI: Oil products consumption in March grew 23 percent from the year-ago period to 1.82 million tons on a combination of a rebound in industrial and transportation activity as well as rising demand for fuel oil following a rise in LNG prices, analysts said on Monday.

Sales increased 19 percent month-on-month.

“The growth in sales volumes is primarily on growth in auto sales leading to increase in demand of Motor gasoline (MS), and higher reliance on FO based plants”, said Muhammad Iqbal Jawaid, analyst at Arif Habib Limited.

Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) data showed petrol reported a growth of 13 percent year-on-year and 19 percent month-on-month, clocking-in at 0.77 million tons in period under review.

Similarly, High Speed Diesel (HSD) volumes witnessed an increase of 29 percent year-on-year and 17 percent month-on-month, settling at 0.69 million in March 2022.

Whereas, Furnace Oil (FO) sales volumes ascended by 33 percent year-on-year and 27 percent month-on-month in March 2022, reaching 0.28 million tons which is attributable to higher demand from IPPs. During first nine months of current financial year, sales of total petroleum products climbed up by 15 percent year-on-year to 16.26 million tons, against 14.15 million tons in same period of last year.

Product wise data showed that double digit jump was witnessed in all categories as offtake of petrol, HSD, and FO clocked-in at 6.68 million tons, 6.38 million tons, and 2.67 million tons, respectively.

Company-wise analysis data reported that PSO posted a jump of 38 percent year-on-year in March, which was majorly contributed by sales growth of HSD and MS by 55 percent and 17 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Sales of Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) and SHELL also displayed an increase of 27 percent and 11 percent year-on-year, respectively. However, HASCOL’s offtake plunged by 68 percent year-on-year on massive reduction in MS and HSD volumes.

During first nine months of current fiscal, PSO’s market share climbed up by 4 percent YoY to 50 percent vis-à-vis 46 percent in the same period of previous year.

Market share of APL and SHEL remained unchanged at 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Whereas, the share of HASCOL dropped by 3 percent year-on-year to 1 percent, from 4 percent in same period last year.

Market share of other oil marketing companies dropped to 31 percent in first nine months of the current financial year, compared to 32 percent in same months last year.