December Sees a 10% Plunge in Oil Sales, Dropping to 1.24 million tonnes

In December 2023, the sales of oil marketing companies (OMCs) decreased by 10% month over month to 1.24 million tonnes (MTs) from 1.37 MTs in November 2023.

Similarly, compared to 1.33 MTs of sales in December 2022, oil sales decreased by 7% YoY year over year.

Sales for the first half of FY24 totaled 7.68 million MTs, compared to 9.03 million MTs in 1HFY23, which represents a 15% YoY fall in oil sales.

The primary cause of the decrease in oil sales is the increase in the cost of gasoline and diesel.

It should be noted that the average cost of gasoline in 1HFY24 is Rs289.3 per liter, while it was Rs229.36 in 1HFY23.

Considering Products:

Furnace Oil (FO) and High-Speed Diesel (HSD) sales decreased by 4% and 21% month over month to total 80 tonnes and 510 tonnes, respectively.

In contrast, Motor Spirit's (MS) sales volume stayed steady at 570 tonnes.

In the meantime, FO, MS, and HSD's year-over-year sales fell by 36%, 8%, and 2% YoY, respectively.

Considering Companies:

Sales of Company-Wise PSO decreased by 17% MoM as a result of decreases in MS, HSD, and FO sales of 3%, 25%, and 87% MoM, in that order.

In a similar vein, sales at HASCOL and SHEL decreased by 16% and 2% month over month, respectively.

Conversely, APL experienced a 6% month-over-month increase in sales, reaching 13 tons.

In comparison to December 2023 data, sales of SHEL and PSO declined by 18% and 5% YoY, respectively.

However, the top lines of APL and HASCOL also saw YoY increases of 6%.

All OMCs had a significant drop in sales in 1HFY24, with the exception of HASCOL, which recorded a 27% year-over-year gain in sales, reaching almost 200 tons.

As of December 2023, PSO has a 48.4% market share in industry sales, dominating the OMC sector.

Interestingly, the oil giant's market share has increased significantly from December 2022, when it controlled a 36.4% share of total sales.

During the review period, APL, SHEL, and HASCOL had respective market shares of 10.5%, 7.3%, and 2.4%.