Oil sales slump 11 percent in June

KARACHI: Country’s oil sales jumped eleven percent to 22.5 million tonnes in fiscal year 2021-22, the data released by Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) showed on Friday, while they fell massively in June owing to a humongous increase in the prices of different fuels.

The sales of petroleum products remained stagnant in the month of June 2022, compared to 1.9 million tonnes in the same month last year.

Month-on-month, the sales in June declined eleven percent over May this year.

The fall in June sales, according to analysts, is a result of a phenomenal raise in the prices of diesel and petrol after the government removed the subsidy and passed on the full impact of the global market to domestic consumers.

Before the latest fortnightly review, a day earlier, the government had jacked the prices of petroleum products thrice; first on May 27, second on June 03 and then on June 15 this year.

The prices of fuels have reached their highest in the history of the country.

According to the oil industry, the high prices of diesel and petrol compelled the people to slash their fuel cost by reducing their trips to town drastically, compared to previous months, and expected that after the latest revision of petrol price at the end of June, the fuel sales would drop further.

The sale of high speed diesel (HSD) reflected an eight percent decline to 713,000 tonnes in June 2022, compared to the same month last year when 776,000 tonnes of HSD was sold.

The sale of petrol in June slumped 10 percent to 702,000 tonnes from 776,000 tonnes in the same month of the previous year.

The sale of diesel and petrol in the month of June also dropped by 16 percent and 12 percent compared to May this year, respectively.

Upliftment of furnace oil, however, registered a massive increase of 33 percent in the month of June against the same month last year on the back of higher demand from power generation as gas shortage has forced the government to switch to furnace oil.

The company-wise sale of the petroleum products showed that Pakistan State Oil registered 29 percent in the last fiscal, followed by Attock Petroleum Limited and Shell Pakistan that posted 22 and 14 percent growth respectively, whereas Hascol’s sale plunged by 66 percent in FY2022.