KARACHI: Petrol sales rose 21 per cent year-on-year to 3.33 million tonnes in July-Dec, according to data released by the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC).

Sales of petrol in December stood at 536,146 tonnes, which was 16.7pc higher than the sales recorded in the same month of 2015. OCAC data shows Pakistan’s petrol import in July-Dec swelled to a new peak of 2.52m tonnes, up 22.3pc from a year ago.

Diesel sales in December swelled 22.6pc year-on-year to 696,547 tonnes. In July-Dec, diesel sales went up 16pc to 4.21m tonnes.

Diesel imports in December soared 36.2pc on an annual basis to 311,347 tonnes. Total diesel imports in July-Dec went up 40.76pc to 1.83m tonnes from 1.3m tonnes a year ago.

A refinery official said rising sales of locally assembled and imported vehicles as well as growth in the two- and three-wheeler segments gave impetus to petrol demand. Low petrol prices encouraged a large number of vehicle owners to switch from CNG to petrol.

He said growth in the sales of heavy vehicles, particularly ones assembled locally, pushed up demand for diesel although a number of old public-transport vehicles run on CNG. More people will start consuming petrol in case CNG prices continue to rise following the recent deregulation.

Besides record-high bike sales by Honda and some other Chinese bike assemblers, a rising number of imported vehicles are helping petrol demand grow, he added.

The country witnessed record petrol sales of 573,459 tonnes in October and record diesel sales of 886,520 tonnes in May. In July, Pakistan recorded the highest-ever import of 484,207 tonnes of petrol.

Furnace oil sales in December surged more than one-third to 785,959 tonnes on an annual basis. Furnace oil sales in July-Dec grew one-fifth to around 5m tonnes from a year ago.

Ayesha Fayyaz of Shajar Capital said the import volume of furnace oil will nosedive due to the shift of furnace oil-based power plants to other efficient fuels. She added that growth in petrol and diesel consumption will remain strong due to rising auto financing and per-capita income.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2017