ISLAMABAD: The first four months of FY25 saw a 30.98 per cent increase in crude oil imports, leading to higher-than-expected production of petroleum products by local refineries and an increase in exports.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the increase in local production of petroleum products in the past few months and its exports from the country is likely to boost economic growth in the current fiscal year.

Data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that petroleum crude imports increased by 16.80pc in value and 30.98pc in quantity in the July-October FY25 from a year ago. In quantity, the crude import reached 3.137 million tonnes in 4MFY25 from 2.395m tonnes in the previous year.

The rise in crude oil imports clearly indicates high transportation and other economic activities in the country. This also suggests higher capacity utilisation of local oil refineries compared to last year, which increased their profitability. The surging crude oil imports also translated into higher petroleum product production by local refineries.

The PBS data for the first four months of FY25 showed that the output of all 11 petroleum products was higher by 7.85pc than last year. Further analysis showed that the local production of two major oil products — petrol and high-speed diesel mostly used in the transport sector and agriculture — was up 4.50pc and 7.85pc, respectively.

The production of furnace oil was up by almost 12.67pc during the months under review of the FY25, compared to the same period last year, but this could be attributed to its rising share in power generation. Jet (airline) fuel output was up by 4.17pc and that of kerosene by 32.16pc.

The production of lubricants and jute batching oil dipped by 11.54pc and 61.29pc in 4MFY25. LPG production also saw a decline of 5.25pc during the months under review. The production of solvent naphtha went up by 38.79pc.

Consequently, exports of petroleum products were up by 548.59pc on a year-on-year basis in 4MFY25 to $178.567m. The details show that growth was recorded in almost all petroleum products, including petroleum crude.

The export of petroleum crude surged to 40,552 tonnes in 4MFY25 against no exports over the corresponding period of last year. Similarly, the exports of petroleum products, excluding top naphtha, saw a growth of 634.96pc to 300,714 tonnes in 4MFY25 against 40,916 tonnes last year. The export of petroleum top naptha also recorded a growth of 69.62pc to 17,917 tonnes on year-on-year basis.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024