Oil sales surge 39 percent in May

KARACHI: Oil sales rose 39 percent month-on-month in May as easing lockdown after two months boosted consumption during the month, official data showed on Wednesday.

Oil Companies Advisory Committee’s data showed that oil marketing companies witnessed recovery in sales during May when compared to the preceding month.

Sales of furnace oil clocked in at 144,000 tons, while motor spirit volumes recorded a 46 percent surge to 636,000 tons during May. That compared with 435,000 tons in April. Similarly, high speed diesel sales increased 26 percent to 687,000 tons in May over April.

“Sales increased as the government partially lifted the lockdown across the country and allowed import-export related activities, which resulted in higher industrial demand,” Pearl Securities said in a report.

The government recently eased lockdown that was imposed in later in March after the coronavirus outbreak.

However, cumulative oil marketing companies’ offtakes declined 13 percent to 14.7 million tons during the July-May period of 2019/20. That compared with 16.9 million tons in the same period last year.

Pakistan State Oil witnessed a 60 percent increase in volumes to 622,000 in May over April. This can be attributed to 94 percent increase in volumes of furnace oil, 72 percent increase in motor spirit volumes and 55 percent increase in diesel sales.

“This increase was primarily driven by low oil prices and higher demand from transporters,” the brokerage said. “However, volumes witnessed a downward trend on yearly basis where furnace oil was the major contributor posting a decline of 93 percent, responding to the economic slowdown.”

Attock Petroleum posted a sequential increase of 45 percent in volumes to 138,000 in May – 175 percent increase in furnace oil sales to 28,000 tons during May remained the major contributor.

However, on a yearly basis, Attock Petroleum recorded a three percent decline in volumes. Similarly, for 11MFY20, the company’s sales edged down to 1.5 million tons. “The drop in volumes can be attributed to the continuation of the economic slowdown amid lockdown situation,” said the Pearl Securities.

Hascol Petroleum saw a 43 percent sequential increase in volumes to 117,000 tons in May. The major contributor for Hascol remained diesel, which surged 90 percent followed by 20 percent increase in gasoline.

On a yearly basis, Hascol’s sales declined three percent to 121,000 tons in May due to lower demand scenario. For 11MFY20, total volumes decreased 46 percent to clock in at 100,000 tons. Shell Pakistan sales surged 23 percent in May on sequential basis. Shell recorded a notable decrease of 15 percent during 11MFY20 sales.