Karachi, November 18, 2021 (PPI-OT): Pakistan OMCs: Retail fuels continue to remain strong

Increase in volumes directly lifted throughput levels, with 3QCY21 retail volumes at 4.5mn tons, up 20%YoY largely due to a 27%YoY increase in HSD while sequential decline in retail fuels’ volume stood at 1%.

Company-wise, HASCOL/SHEL/APL/PSO delivered throughput levels of 122k/703k/590k/740k ltrs/outlet for the quarter, moving -75%/+26%/+27%/+24%YoY and -63%/+2%/+11%/+4%QoQ taking total average industry throughput +14%YoY/+1.3%QoQ to 707k ltrs/outlet.

Difference between throughput level of MS and HSD increased significantly to 158k ltrs/outlet against 89k ltr/outlet for 2QCY21 which we attribute to seasonality leading to lower consumption of HSD on QoQ basis while on YoY basis, difference between throughputs of fuels has decreased.

Moving forward, with overall competitive landscape improving and phasing out of furnace oil, retail fuels will continue to be the mainstay of the sector while competition from private players also intensifies.