Oil sales show upward trend in new fiscal year

Oil sales rose 10 per cent in the first month of the current fiscal year when compared with July last year. Sales also marked a four per cent increase against the figures for May.

According to a JS Global report, the reduced price differential between petrol and compressed natural gas (CNG), helped boost petrol sales by 27 per cent against July 2009.

The increased demand for furnace oil by power generation companies resulted in a seven per cent increase in furnace oil sales. Meanwhile, high speed diesel sales also witnessed a rebound to stand at 661,000 tons.

It is worth mentioning that during a press briefing last week, Managing Director Pakistan State Oil Irfan Qureshi highlighted that sales volumes for furnace oil grew by 17.8 per cent over the fiscal 2009-10 on account of inflated demand from the power generation sector. The company also posted a volumetric increase of 20.9 per cent in the sales of motor gasoline.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has recorded a growth of eight per cent on the back of a pick up in high speed diesel sales while Attock Petroleum and Shell have also posted impressive growth of 38 per cent and 26 per cent on a year-on-year basis, respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2010.