Karachi March 18 2022: Pakistan’s gasoline consumption growth is expected to hover at close to double digits over the next three years on rising auto sales, while gasoil demand will grow at around half that rate, despite the push toward cleaner fuels, CEO of Pakistan State Oil Syed Muhammad Taha told S&P Global Commodity Insights in an interview.
“In the next two to three years, motor gasoline demand is expected to increase by 8% to 10% per annum owing to the significant increase in economic activity,” Taha said.
“Moreover, another factor which would keep growth in line with expectations is the announcement of the new auto policy, which will bring different variants of automobiles into the market and hence increase sales,” he added.
Taha, who is also the managing director of PSO, added that Pakistan’s economic growth in the current fiscal year ending June 30 is expected to be around 8%, compared with 11% in the previous fiscal year, when growth rebounded from a lower base the year before.
“For high speed diesel or gasoil, we expect growth to be around 4% to 5% over the next few years as it is linked with economic growth emanating mainly from the manufacturing and agricultural sectors,” he said.
Taha highlighted that in the last six months or so, the government had taken numerous measures to curb cross-border smuggling of diesel, especially from Iran, to help improve sales of the fuel in the domestic market.
Taha added that imported LNG would also contribute substantially to the petroleum products demand growth in the country amid depleting gas reserves at home and no major discovery in sight.
“With domestic gas production of around 3.6 Bcf/d and demand hovering between 4.5-5 Bcf/d, the gap has to be bridged through LNG imports, which will show our increasing reliance on imported gas,” he added.
The country’s import bill for gasoline and high-speed diesel is expected to range between $7 billion-$8 billion in the current financial year, out of which PSO’s share will account for about 40%-50%, Taha added.
