KARACHI: Demand for commercial airline fuel (JP-1) increased 13 per cent to 775,736 tonnes in 2015-16, with almost 80pc consumption taking place in Sindh alone.

According to the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), in 2014-15 686,402 tonnes of the fuel were consumed with Sindh’s share clocking up at 77pc.

Punjab, the largest province by population, utilised just 155,774 tonnes of the fuel registering a growth of 7.3pc over the preceding year.

However, the consumption of JP-1 in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dropped 6.4pc and 65.1pc, respectively, at 3,814 tonnes and 2,095 tonnes on a year-on-year basis.

In terms of the consumption of other fuels Punjab was ahead of other provinces. For example, the densely populated province utilised 3.94 million tonnes, or 70pc of the overall demand, of petrol in 2015-16.

Sindh used 1.15m tonnes of petrol in 2015-16, up almost 22pc from a year ago. KP and Balochistan consumed 390,329 tonnes and 140,567 tonnes, up 36.7pc and 27pc, respectively.

Punjab used 87,143 tonnes of kerosene in 2015-16, which constituted 61.5pc of the country’s total consumption in the 12-month period.

Sindh consumed 14,733 tonnes of kerosene in 2015-16, down almost 28pc from a year ago. The kerosene consumption in KP and Balochistan during 2015-16 was 33,247 tonnes and 721 tonnes, respectively. Its consumption in KP dropped 3.1pc year-on-year while Balochistan’s usage went up 442pc.

The use of kerosene in Gilgit-Baltistan increased 159pc to 5,394 tonnes in 2015-16.

The overall consumption of high-speed diesel (HSD) in 2015-16 was 7.75m tonnes, up 4.6pc from 2014-15. The share of Punjab in the HSD consumption in 2015-16 was 4.88m tonnes, which translates into almost 63pc countrywide usage.

Sindh maintained its second position in HSD usage with the consumption of 1.7m tonnes in 2015-16. Its consumption increased 15.6pc on a year-on-year basis in the last fiscal year.

The consumption of HSD in KP during 2015-16 was 743,980 tonnes, which was 10.1pc higher than the last year’s usage. Balochistan and GB used 180,079 tonnes and 127,063 tonnes of HSD, respectively, in 2015-16, which was less than their consumption recorded in the preceding year.

The share of Punjab in the consumption of furnace oil (FO) was 58.6pc, as it burned 5.27m tonnes of the fuel in 2015-16.

Sindh used 1.83m tonnes of FO in the last fiscal year, which was three fourths of its consumption in the preceding fiscal year.

Balochistan’s use of FO stood at 1.81m tonnes in 2015-16, up 9pc year-on-year.

After declining in 2015-16, the consumption of FO increased in the first quarter of 2016-17 by 25pc due to increased power generation from FO-based plants.

Rising car and bike sales, low prices, CNG load-shedding and higher generator imports led to a higher petrol demand for petrol in the country.

The low price of diesel pushed up the sales of locally produced heavy vehicles, thus giving a boost to diesel demand. Diesel sales in July-September went up 10pc to 1.82m tonnes followed by a 21pc jump in petrol sales to 1.66m tonnes.

According to OCAC CEO Ilyas Fazil, growth in the sales of petrol and HSD is expected to continue in 2016-17 because of the same reasons that pushed their sales last year.

He said global oil prices are also expected to remain depressed going forward.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2016

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