ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan’s crude oil import bill registered double-digit growth during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, while exports of petroleum products pos­­ted a substantial increase from a year ago, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

Crude oil imports rose by 13.53pc to 9.387 million tonnes in 11MFY25, compared to 8.268m tonnes in the same period last year. This increase enabled local refineries to ramp up production of petroleum products, leading to a notable surge in exports.

Petroleum products ex­­ports soared 57.87pc to $511.51m during the pe­­riod under review, up from $323.81m a year earlier. The sharp rise is attributed to improved domestic production and higher re­­finery capacity utilisation, supported by increased crude oil availability.

In contrast, the import bill for petroleum produ­c­­ts declined 8.55pc in value terms despite a 5.55pc rise in quantity — climbing to 9.744m tonnes from 9.23m tonnes in the previous year. This shift suggests a growing reliance on locally refined products over direct imports.

Petroleum exports surge 58pc in July-May

LNG imports fell 10.23pc in the same period, while LPG imports saw a significant jump of 33.83pc, ref­lecting changing energy consumption trends.

PBS data also showed that overall petroleum production rose 5.01pc during July-April FY25. High-speed diesel output, primarily used in transportation and agriculture, increased 9.83pc. How­ever, overall petroleum production posted a modest growth of 1.91pc.

Exports of petroleum crude resumed during the period, reaching 40,552 tonnes in compared to none in the same period last year. Exports of petroleum products, excluding top naphtha, rose 46.8pc to 923,519 tonnes, up from 616,567 tonnes. Meanwhile, top naphtha exports surged 80.5pc to 89,179 tonnes.

The strong performance of the petroleum sector is expected to contribute po­­sitively to economic growth in the current fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2025