The oil sales in the country have weakened by 29 percent on year-on-year basis to 1.03 million tons in March 2020, lowest monthly sales since 2006. The oil sales in March 2019 were 1.46 million tons. On month-on-month basis, the oil sales decreased by 7 percent in March 2020 as compared to 1.11 million tons sales in February 2020. Despite more working days in March 2020 compared to February 2020, demand for petroleum products has significantly gone down due to implementation of lockdown by provincial governments to limit spread of Coronavirus along with excessive availability of illegal fuel dumped from Iran and lower reliance on furnace oil for power generation. As per market sources, oil consumption during the last 10 days of March 2020 witnessed a massive decline of 50 percent first 20 days of the month. However, if lockdown is extended then this may have serious consequences for April 2020 sales. As per the notice issued by petroleum division, all oil marketing companies are directed to lift petroleum products from local refineries rather than depending on imported products. This decision came after Attock Refinery, National Refinery and Pak Arab Refinery announced shut down of their plants due to massive dip in demand, which resulted in a surge in inventory. Currently, OMCs have sufficient inventory of all the products and they have been directed to procure products from local refineries so that local refineries can operate at adequate levels.
