The oil marketing companies have seen some sturdy growth in volumes in recent times, particularly in the volumes of retail fuels like petrol and diesel. The strong performance of the petroleum products in FY17 continued its way in FY18 such that the overall industry volumes of petroleum products were up by over 9 percent year-on-year in the first two months of FY18.
For the first two months of FY18 (2MFY18), volumetric sales of the three key petroleum product: Petrol, diesel (HSD), and furnace oil were up by 4.2 percent year-on-year. Motor gasoline was up by 7 percent year-on-year, while HSD increased by 17 percent. Furnace oil remained a laggard where the volumes came down by 5 percent year-on-year due to low demand from the power sector not only due to the availability of RLNG, but also due to better hydro-power generation during the peak monsoon season. Similarly, furnace oil imports also took a dip of 15 percent year-on-year. On the other hand, HSD imports were robust at 31 percent year-on-year as the transport sector continued to use diesel; however, there might be some slowdown in the coming months in HSD volumes after the resumption of RLNG in the CNG sector.
Another reason for the rise in the demand of fuel oils is the solid increase in car sales and the influx of imported cars off late.
Company-wise volumes have spurred for Hascol Petroleum the most not only in 2MFY18, but in FY17 and FY16 as well. This growth trend has taken the OMC among the top companies based on volumetric sales. In August alone, Hascol saw a 54 percent increase in its flows that took its market share to 10 percent in the month. Its market share for the 2MFY18 has been between 10-11 percent, while for the calendar year to date (Jan-Aug 2017), its market share also stands at around 10 percent surpassing APL’s 9 percent, and its own 7 percent in 8MCY16.
On the other hand, PSO remains the market leader, and the OMC giant has actually seen its market share improve recently; for August 2017, PSO’s volumes spurred to take its market share from 55 to 58 percent! In all, the growth in volumes for the OMC was largely brought by the retail fuels.
While the volumetric growth would continue in the OMC sector, a slowdown in sales can already be seen when compared to growth figures for last year. However, if the international oil prices continue to remain lower along with increased activity by the OMCs for retail expansion, volumes can take another boost up north.
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