Islamabad September 1 2023: Sales of petroleum products increased by 4 percent during August 2023 when compared to previous month due to higher demand from agriculture and transportation sector, according to data shared by OCAC.
During the month, Attock Petroleum (APL) experienced the highest recovery, showing a 14 percent increase, followed by a 7 percent improvement in sales of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and a 4 percent growth in the volumes of Shell Pakistan (Shell).
Conversely, petroleum sales dropped by 8 percent compared to the same period last year. This decline was attributed to rising oil prices and reduced demand. In August 2023, the government raised petroleum product prices to offset the impact of the rising international market prices for petroleum products and the devaluation of the Rupee.
The average prices of Motor Spirit saw a significant increase of 22.80 percent, while High-Speed Diesel prices rose by 16.95 percent in August 2023 compared to the same period last year. This followed previous increases of 10.03 percent and 10.97 percent in August 2023.
Sales of Motor Spirit (MS) for August 2023 increased by 2 percent compared to the previous month, reaching 0.67 million tons, driven by anticipation of further price hikes. Year-on-year, MS sales also saw a 5 percent increase.
A similar trend was observed in the sales of High-Speed Diesel (HSD), which rose by 11 percent month-on-month to 0.55 million tons in August 2023, primarily due to higher demand from the agriculture sector for rice and cotton harvesting. HSD sales also increased by 11 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
However, sales of Furnace oil (FO) experienced a significant decline of 18 percent month-on-month in August 2023, dropping to 0.12 million tons. This decline was attributed to reduced demand from power producers, and it marked a 64 percent decrease compared to August 2022 sales.
