Oil sales down by 11 percent year-on-year in January

The oil consumption in the country declined by 11 percent on year-on-year basis to 1.46 million tons in January 2012 against 1.64 million tons in the same month in 2011. "The major reason for the decline in consumption is the fall in sale of Furnace Oil (FO), which is down 15 percent on year-on-year basis amid the circular debt," Syed Atif Zafar, an analyst at JS Global Capital said.
Moreover, Jet fuel sale is also declined by 54 percent on year-on-year basis owing to the Pakistan government halting supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan and withdrawing duty exemptions on oil exports to Afghanistan. However, Motor Gasoline demand witnessed an increase of 25 percent on year-on-year basis because of enhanced CNG load shedding in the country, despite a substantial increase of 23 percent in product price, he said.
"Cumulatively in the seven months of FY12, oil demand reached 11.3 million tons against 11.4 million tons in the corresponding period last year, a fall of 0.1 percent on year-on-year basis," he added. The overall sales of Pakistan State Oil declined by 8 percent in January 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011. While High Speed Diesel (HSD) volumes increased by one percent and FO sales went down by 16 percent. MOGAS sales witnessed a robust growth of 31 percent.
In the seven months of FY12, PSO sales reached 7.3 million tons, down 0.2 percent with a market share of 64.2 percent. Attock Petroleum's sales remained flat at 127000 tons against the decline in the overall industry. MOGAS and HSD sales went up by 20 percent and 35 percent, respectively while FO sales declined by 13 percent. In the seven months of FY12, APL witnessed an impressive growth of 27 percent to 932000 tons, with a market share of 8.2 percent.