KARACHI: The total petroleum and lubricant sales clocked-in at 1.51 million tons in December 2021, depicting a decline of six percent on year-on-year basis and 14 percent on month-on-month basis on account of significant decline in Furnace Oil (FO) volumes.

FO volumes clocked-in at 0.13 million tons, down by 47 percent on YoY and 28 percent on MoM basis as compared to 0.24 million tons in December 2021 and 0.18 million in November 2021, respectively.

The decline in sales volumes is attributable to lower Furnace Oil (FO) requirement amid slowdown in FO-based power generation, Arsalan Hanif at Arif Habib Limited said. On the other hand, slowdown in sales volumes of HSD is due to lower requirement from agriculture sector and higher HSD prices, he added.

On a yearly basis, total sales volumes witnessed a decline of 6.0 percent on YoY which was mainly led by volumetric decline of FO (ex-FO growth is 2.0 percent on YoY) and HSD by 47 percent and 1.0 percent YoY, respectively.

During the first half of FY22, sales of total petroleum products increased by 14 percent on YoY to 11.10 million tons versus 9.75 million tons in the same period last year.

Dissection of data revealed that double digit growth was witnessed in all categories; MS, HSD and FO with offtake undergoing a jump to 4.51 million tons, 4.36 million tons and 1.91 million tons.

On CY21 basis, volumes increased by 19.5 percent on YoY to 20.8 million tons attributable to significant growth in all categories.

Company-wise analysis demonstrates that APL posted growth of 14 percent on YoY in December 2021 which was majorly contributed by sales growth of HSD and MS by 35 percent and 10 percent on YoY, respectively. This growth was followed by SHEL portraying growth of three percent on YoY. However, PSO and HASCOL posted a decline of 5.0 percent and 58 percent on YoY due to significant decline in sales volumes. During the first half of FY22, PSO managed to expand its market share by 4.0 percent on YoY to 50.3 percent compared to 46.2 percent in the first half of FY21. Likewise, market share of APL and SHEL remained stable at 9.4 percent and 7.8 percent. However, market share of HASCOL and other OMCs dropped by 3.5 percent and one percent on YoY to 1.5 percent (5.0 percent in the first half of FY21), and 31 percent (32 percent in the first half of FY21), respectively.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022