Oil sales hit seven-year low at 1.35m tons

Decrease mainly due to less reliance on furnace oil-based power plants

KARACHI: Oil sales hit a seven-year low of 1.35 million tons in August mainly due to less reliance on furnace oil-based power plants in the country, according to a brokerage house on Tuesday.

Sales in the month were down 46% on a year-on-year basis.

“Volumes declined due to a steep fall of 79% in furnace oil sales on a year-on-year basis to 191,000 tons amid its reduced consumption in the power sector after availability of substitute (re-gasified liquefied natural gas - RLNG),” Topline Securities’ analyst Shankar Talreja said in a note to clients.

“Excluding furnace oil, volumes showed a decline of 27% year-on-year due to lower working days in August amid Eid holidays coupled with a double-digit growth in petroleum prices,” he said.



According to breakdown, sales of high-speed diesel touched a nearly four-year low at 493,000 tons in August, down 38% year-on-year due to 46% increase in its prices to Rs113 per litre.

For the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year, cumulative sales of high-speed diesel were down 30% to 1.1 million tons.

Company-wise sales

Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) outperformed its peers by posting a meagre drop of 5% in its volumes to 181,000 tons. “Petrol and high-speed diesel sales of APL went up by 5% and 25% respectively. Furnace oil sales fell by 33% on a year-on-year basis,” he said.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) remained the most affected during August as its furnace oil sales were down 97%, taking overall decline to 66%.

“Excluding furnace oil, volumes of PSO were down by 40% with high-speed diesel and petrol sales declining 55% and 23% respectively,” he said.



During the first two months, the market share of PSO in the petrol oil segment went down by five percentage points to 37% due to increased competition from other players.

APL and Shell Pakistan, however, gained two percentage points and one percentage point in their market shares respectively, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2018.

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