Oil sales declined by 4 percent, to 11.3 million tons, during the seven months of FY11 (July-January) as compared to 11.8 million tons in the same period in FY10. The major reason behind decline in sales was less diesel consumption, which fell by nine percent to 4 million tons during this period, analysts said.
"Demand for diesel, which contributes 35 percent in total oil consumption and is used as a transportation fuel, fell due to slowdown in trading activity amid floods", Farhan Mahmood, senior analyst at Topline Securities, said. Similarly, he said, the sales of furnace oil (FO), the heavyweight oil product with 44 percent share in overall oil consumption, reduced by 3 percent on year-on-year basis to 5 million tons.
Interestingly, petrol consumption continued to show rising trend, up 18 percent, to 1.3 million tons, on account of persistent CNG shortage, he added. Company-wise data shows that PSO sold 7.3 million tons of oil products, down 11 percent on year-on-year basis, whereas sales of Shell and APL increased by 22 percent and 17 percent to 1.7 million tons and 0.73 million tons, respectively.