Pakistan’s Oil Demand Increased By 37 percent in August
Despite the economic recession, the demand for oil has gone up. As reported by Business Recorder, this rise is mainly due to consistent rise in furnace oil demand and sharp recovery in diesel sales.
Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was the star performer in this month with stunning 44 percent oil sales growth to 1,321,000 tons due to efficient volume handling by the company. The company supplied 31,000 tons of FO per day to the thermal plants in August 2009 compared to 19,000 tons in August 2008. The PSO’s market share in furnace oil sales has increased to 90 percent in August.
According to OCAC data, Shell’s oil product sales increased by 12 percent to 226,000 tons while the sales of APL declined by 7 percent to 90,000 tons in this period. “To improve electricity generation through existing power plants, a committee was constituted on July 21, 2009 which instructed PSO to supply 35,000 tons of FO to power generation companies and this was the main reason that FO sales grew massively,” Farhan Mahmood, an analyst at JS Global Capital said. The diesel (HSD) sales also recovered sharply posting 26 percent volumetric growth during the month, led by gradual improvement in trade activities on the back of overall economic recovery, he added.
The PSO’s FO and diesel sales grew by 63 percent and 22 percent to 777,000 tons and 402000 tons, respectively. “With the recent long-term fuel agreements with Pepco and the company’s commitment to provide monthly 35,000 tons of FO to power plants during peak season, we expect FO sales of the company to reach 9 million tons in FY10 compared to 6.9 million tons in FY09,” Farhan said. Moreover, resolution of the circular debt will improve liquidity in the energy chain and hence improve OMCs ability to pile oil stocks, he added.
