Oil sales soar 14pc to 1.7mln tonnes in May

KARACHI: Oil sales increased 14 percent year-on-year and one percent month-on-month to 1.7 million tons in May, taking cumulative turnover to 17.5 million tons, up 18 percent.

Sequential growth was mainly led by increase in motor gasoline sales. Sales of high-speed diesel and furnace oil were down month-on-month.

Topline Research said oil sales improved year-on-year due to low base effect as there were lockdowns relating to COVID-19 last year. However, there was also improving economic activity and rising car sales, it said.

“We foresee motor gasoline sales to remain elevated as lockdowns restrictions ease further,” KASB Research report said.

In July-May, gasoline sales benefitted from high vehicle sales during the fiscal year, allowing the commodity to post a growth of 13 percent to 7.5 million tons.

“The converging parity between CNG and petrol, coupled with constrained gas supply also compelled several motorists to switch over to petrol as the primary fuel source for their vehicles,” said the KASB Research report. In May, gasoline sales picked up 9 percent month-on-month and 15 percent year-on-year to 731,000 tons.

Diesel sales grew 19 percent to 6.9 million tons during 11 months. Furthermore, the government’s action against curbing smuggled petroleum also supported the commodity’s growth during the fiscal year. Diesel sales dipped 3 percent to 761,000 tons in May because of the extended Eid Holidays, limiting economic activity during the period.

Furnace oil sales fell 5 percent month-on-month to 168,000 tons as the warmer season commenced and the gas supply normalised. Moreover, high prices of furnace oil in line with global oil prices also limited its use in the private sector.

Furnace oil sales grew 46 percent to 2.6 million tons primarily because of the prevalent gas shortage. Lower prices of the commodity and the restrictions on gas supply also incentivised the fuel’s usage from the private sector. Attock Petroleum Limited’s market share

APL’s market share improved to 8.5 percent in May from 8.1 percent in April mainly on back of strong diesel and furnace oil sales. Hascol sales improved its market share to 3.5 percent from 2 percent mainly on account of low base and improved petrol sales.

Overall market share of Pakistan State Oil improved to 46 percent in 11 months versus 43 percent a year earlier. This was primarily driven by improvement in diesel market share which improved to 48 percent compared to 45 percent. Market shares of Attock Petroleum, Shell and Hascol dropped to 8.8 percent, 7.9 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.