Oil sales slump 22pc on weak demand in September

KARACHI: Oil consumption plunged 22 percent to 1.52 million tonnes in the month of September this fiscal compared to 1.96 million tonnes in the same month of the last year owing to ebbing demand and rising fuels prices, data showed on Tuesday.

“The year-on-year drop in oil sales is primarily due to a rise in the fuel prices, lower vehicle sales, monsoon-halted agricultural activity and subsequent drastic reduction in the demand of petroleum products,” said Nasheed Malik, analyst at Topline Securities.

Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC)’s data showed that amid lower industrial activity, sale of petrol, diesel and furnace oil (FO) decreased 22 percent, 26 percent and 24 percent respectively. Analyst Deepa Jawani at Darson Securities said that year-on-year negative growth was mainly a consequence of depletion in petrol consumption amid higher prices, heavy rains and floods that resulted in reduced mobility in the preceding month, lower FO-based power generation, and deteriorated automobile sales.

Month-on-month petroleum sales remained flat during September 2022, a positive growth of 5 percent was witnessed in HSD, while sales volumes of MS and FO declined by 1 percent and 7 percent respectively.

During the first quarter of the current financial year, petroleum products sales decreased to 4.5 million tonnes against 5.9 million tonnes in the same period last year, reflecting a decline of 23 percent year-on-year.

Company-wise sales volume showed that sales of state-owned oil marketing company Pakistan State Oil (PSO) recorded at 0.80 million tonnes in the month of September of the current financial year, posting growth 18 percent year-on-year and negative growth of two percent month-on-month.

The month-on-month drop was primarily due to lower year-on-year volumetric sales of petrol (24 percent), HSD (23 percent), and FO (12 percent), whereas PSO’s

market share increased 1 percent month-on-month and clocked in at 53 percent.

Similarly SHEL, APL Hascol, and BYCO also posted negative growth of 22 percent , 31 percent , 7 percent, and 47 percent respectively in September of this fiscal compared to the same month of the last fiscal respectively.

Deepa forecast that demand would remain stressed due to overall economic slowdown. “The HSD sales would remain mixed in the coming days, while and a similar trend might be seen in FO sales due to lower FO-based power generation,” she added Furthermore, petrol sales were expected to remain stagnant or somewhat slower due to lower car sales and higher fuel prices, Deepa said.