April 3, 2019 (MLN): The total industry volumes for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for the month of Mar-19 witnessed a decline of 18% YoY, bringing industry volumes for 9MFY19 to 13.63 million ton i.e. down by 25% YoY.
Product wise, the sale of Motor Spirit (MS) increased by 8% YoY, whereas Furnace Oil (FO) and High Speed Diesel (HSD) sales observed a decline of 50% and 21% YoY during Mar-19, respectively. Precisely, SHEL and PSO witnessed drop in sales by 7% and 11% YoY respectively, while HASCOL and APL witnessed 50% YoY and 25% YoY attrition in sales respectively.
MS sales increased by 8% YoY in Mar-19 due to greater demand during the end of the month in anticipation of a significant price hike and unrelenting curtailment of CNG at pumps. For 9MFY19, MS volumes went up by 2% YoY to 5.52 million ton. Company wise, PSO and SHEL posted 21% YoY and 2% YoY growth in MS sales respectively, while HASCOL and APL registered 27% YoY and 1% YoY decline in sales respectively.
HSD sales dropped by 21% YoY to 0.58 million ton in Mar-19, due to higher domestic prices, slowdown in commercial transport and grey market sales. This brought the total 9MFY19 sales at 5.41 million ton. PSO and SHEL posted declines of 11% YoY in HSD sales, whereas HASCOL and APL posted declines of 49% YoY and 26% YoY respectively.
FO volumes depicted a decline of 50% YoY to 0.19 million ton in Mar-19 as demand remained passive owing to lower demand from FO based power plants. On individual basis, PSO, APL and HASCOL posted declines of 41%, 49% and 75% respectively, whereas SHEL did not make FO sales in the period under review.
