KARACHI: Pakistan oil sales in May 2023, clocked in at 1.3 million tons, down 40 percent on year-on-year basis. However, oil sales in the country increased by 11 percent on month-on-month basis.
On MoM increase was mainly driven by HSD increasing by 18 percent and Furnace Oil (FO) by 26 percent while sales of MS also increased by 4.0 percent in May 2023, experts said.
HSD sales for May 2023 increased by 18 percent MoM to 0.54 million tons. This was mainly due to base effect due to Ramazan and Eid, wheat harvest season and lower MoM prices, Nasheed Malik at Topline Securities said adding that FO sales increased by 26 percent MoM to 91,000 tons due to higher demand for power generation.
Total oil sales excluding furnace oil clocked in at 1.2 million tons in May 2023, down 30 percent YoY and up 10 percent MoM. During the 11 months of FY23, former FO sales stood at 13.3 million tons, down 22 percent YoY.
Among listed entities, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) sales for May 2023 declined by 51 percent YoY to 599,000 tons. This was primarily due to lower sales recorded in FO (down 96 percent YoY) followed by HSD (down 40 percent YoY). PSO market share declined to 46 percent in May-23 versus 56 percent in May 2022.
Shell Pakistan (SHEL) sales decreased by 45 percent YoY to 89,000 tons while, Attock Petroleum (APL) sales declined by 42 percent YoY to 123,000 tons.
During the 11 months of FY23, oil sales are down 26 percent YoY to 15.3 million tons due to economic slowdown with decline visible in all major petroleum products, Nasheed Malik said adding that higher inflationary environment, particularly the prices of MS and HSD have had a major impact on demand.
Product wise FO and HSD have witnessed major drop with a decline of 45 percent and 29 percent YoY respectively, while MS sales declined by 18 percent YoY in the 11 months of FY23.
“We expect oil sales will continue to remain depressed amid high inflation levels and inability of government to provide any relief in oil product prices,” Nasheed Malik said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023