ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oil import bill experienced double-digit growth, while exports of petroleum products increased during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to the previous year.

The crude oil imports rose by over 14pc to 8.489 million tonnes from 7.388m tonnes over the corresponding period last year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Interestingly, exports of petroleum products witnessed a remarkable surge of over 118.7pc to $492.04m during 10MFY25 from $224.97m in the corresponding period last year.

According to the PBS data, crude oil imports increased in the first 10 months of FY25, which prompted local refineries to produce more petroleum products than anticipated and boost exports.

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

Contrary to this, the value of petroleum imports dipped 6.29pc, whereas a 7.12pc increase was recorded in quantity to 8.78m tonnes during 10MFY25 from 8.19m tonnes a year ago.

On the other hand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports decreased by 10.31pc while the import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) surged by 34.71pc during 10MFY25.

The rise in crude oil imports 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 showed that the output of all 11 petroleum products was higher by 4.48pc than last year. Further analysis showed that the local production of high-speed diesel mostly used in the transport sector and agriculture — was up 9.32pc. However, petroleum production showed a paltry growth of 1.97pc during the period under review.

The production of furnace oil was up by almost 2.73pc during 10MFY25 from a year ago. This is a major revival in the production of furnace oil.

Consequently, exports of petroleum products were up by 106.63pc on a year-on-year basis in 10MFY25 to $410.49m. 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 10MFY25 against no exports in the corresponding period last year. Similarly, the exports of petroleum products, excluding top naphtha, grew 103pc to 888,737 tonnes in 10MFY25 against 437,687 tonnes last year. The export of petroleum top naphtha also surged 105pc to 82,266 tonnes year-on-year.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2025