KARACHI: Pakistan’s overall petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) sales in October 2019 clocked in at 1.6 million tons, down 3.0 percent compared with 1.65 million tons off-take recorded in the same month last year, data issued by Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) suggests.  

On sequential basis, POL sales reflected a 9.0 percent increase against 1.47 million tons off-take recorded in September 2019.

“This was largely driven by a surge in retail fuel sales as Motor Spirit (MS) sales increased 7.0 percent to 0.68 million tons while a more significant increase of 21 percent was seen in High Speed Diesel (HSD) sales. Furnace Oil (FO) sales saw a 14 percent decline as FO-based power generation contracted,” Al H. Zaidi at JS Global Capital said in a report.

During October 2019, Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL) posted a substantial increase of 77 percent in sales on the back of strong retail fuels, as MS sales more than doubled over the month to 0.06 million tons while HSD sales surged 76 percent.

On the other hand, Attock Petroleum (APL) was the only oil marketing company (OMC) to post reduced sales, which declined 8.0 percent in October 2019 on the back of 39 percent fall in FO sales.

On a yearly basis, APL’s total sales declined 3.0 percent on the back of 10 percent decline in HSD sales while MS sales grew 10 percent. Over the same period, FO sales shrank 19 percent.

During 4MFY20 (July-October 2019), overall POL sales posted a decline of 7.0 percent to 5.97 million tons as against off-take of 6.41 million tons in the corresponding period last year.

HSD and FO sales declined 15 percent and 17 percent respectively, while MS sales increased 4.0 percent.

“It is interesting to note that during 4MFY20, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was the only OMC to register a growth in sales across all major segments, with the largest growth of 11 percent seen in MS,” Zaidi said.

It has been a turbulent year for HASCOL as its market share fell from 13.5 percent in January 2019 to a low of 4.4 percent in July 2019. However, the latest sales numbers suggest that the company may be ready to make a turnaround as it increased its market share from 4.7 percent in September 2019 to 7.6 percent in October.

Over the same period, Shell Pakistan Limited (SHEL) managed to inch up its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 8.4 percent. PSO, APL and other OMCs saw slight declines in market shares during October 2019.

“The contribution of MS in total POL sales has increased from 16 percent in July 2013 to a massive 43 percent in October 2019. Conversely, the contribution of HSD has only managed to increase from 34 percent to 41 percent over the same period,” Zaidi added.