Pakistan’s refineries double fuel oil exports in the 3rd quarter of 2024

Pakistan’s refineries have more than doubled their fuel oil exports in the three months ending September 30, 2024, compared to the same period last year.

The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) reported that refineries exported around 296,761 MT of fuel oil and 26,792 metric tons of light sulfur furnace oil from July to September 2024, a significant increase from 101,021 MT during the same period in 2023. Last year, no light sulfur furnace oil was exported during this period.

In September 2024 alone, refineries exported 114,296 MT of fuel oil, compared to 50,527 MT in September 2023.

The government has been discouraging the use of fuel oil for power generation over the past three years, prompting refineries to export surplus stocks.

Fuel oil sales within Pakistan dropped by 18% to 70,000 metric tons in September 2024, compared to 80,000 metric tons in September 2023.

Overall fuel oil consumption from July to September 2024 decreased by 39% to 210,000 metric tons from 350,000 metric tons during the same period the previous year.

For the year ending June 30, 2024, fuel oil exports totaled around 820,484 metric tons, while light sulfur fuel oil exports reached 134,982 MT.

This is a significant increase from the 276,979 metric tons of fuel oil exported in the year ending June 30, 2023, when no light sulfur furnace oil was exported.

In August 2023, the government introduced a policy for local refineries to halt fuel oil production and shift to Euro-V standard gasoline and diesel production, a transition expected to take four to five years.

Pakistani refineries have planned a five-year investment of $4-$5 billion to convert their operations to Euro-V standards and eliminate fuel oil throughput.