Sale of petroleum products increases 6pc in March

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The sale of petroleum products increased 6 percent in March 2021 as compared to the previous month while it increased 16 percent during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year against the corresponding period of the last financial year owing to improved economic activities.

The sales of oil marketing companies (OMCs) were recorded at 1.48 million tonnes in March 2021 as compared with 1.39 million tonnes in February last. However, on a yearly basis, the total industry volume showed a significant jump of 48 percent from 1 million tonnes in March 2020 to 1.48 million tonnes in March 2021. However, keeping in view that the country was under lockdown during the last week of March 2020, this comparison does not seem appropriate as the demand was severely low.

On a monthly basis, the growth in the industry’s sales was largely supported by a 9 percent month-on-month increase in motor spirit (MS) sales to 0.68 million tones amid better economic activity. While demand for furnace oil (FO) also remained robust as it jumped by 22 percent month-on-month to 0.21 million tonnes.

However, the consumption of high-speed diesel (HSD) on a monthly basis depicted a decline of 3 percent to 0.53 million tonnes mainly due to smart lockdowns in Punjab province.

Cumulatively, during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2020-21, the overall sales of petroleum products increased by 16 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to 14.15 million tonnes as opposed to 12.17 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

The major contribution to growth during the period came from MS, HSD, and FO as their offtake surged to 6MTs, 5.37MTs, and 2.3MTs, up by 10 percent YoY, 18 percent YoY, and 44 percent YoY against 5.5MTs, 4.5MTs, and 1.6MTs respectively in the same period last year.

Company-wise, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) led the charts by posting 85 percent YoY and 8 percent MoM growth to 0.69 MTs, contributed by strong sales of FO (up by 31 percent MoM). This was followed by Shell Pakistan (SHELL) which registered a growth of 41 percent YoY and 5 percent MoM mostly contributed by strong MS sales which witnessed a growth of 11 percent MoM and 30 percent YoY.

Likewise, sales of Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) also surged by 9 percent MoM and 15 percent YoY. The higher consumption of FO and MS were the major contributors in increasing APL’s sales volume. On the other hand, Hascol Petroleum’s (HASCOL) sales went down by 7 percent MoM and 51 percent YoY. Earlier in February, the sale of petroleum products increased 26 percent as compared to February 2020. The sales of oil marketing companies (OMCs) were recorded at 1.4 million tonnes in February 2021 as compared with 1.11 million tonnes in the same month of the last year.

Overall, the sale of petroleum products increased 13pc to 12.67 million tonnes during the first eight months (July–February) of 2020/2021 as compared with 11.24 million tonnes during the same period of the last fiscal year.