Pakistan’s petroleum group imports surged up 112.3 percent to $8.340 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal compared to $3.947 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
“The global price of petroleum products caused the massive surge in the import of petroleum groups, with increased quantity of these products also adding its share in it,” said Arsalan Hanaif, analyst at Arif Habib Limited.
According to official data, imports of petroleum group jumped up 180.5 percent to $2.183 in November this fiscal compared to $778 million in the same month of last financial year. On month on month basis, the imports grew 36 percent in November compared to October, when the import of petroleum group totalled $1.604 billion.
Arsalan said that international prices of crude oil, petroleum products and RLNG caused the massive surge in the import of petroleum products.
Price of crude oil averaged $77.44 per barrel in July-November this fiscal compared to $42.48 per barrel in the same months of last year, showing 82 percent growth.
He said that consumption of petroleum products domestically also led to massive growth; however, global oil price created a major impact in it. He disclosed that RLNG price averaged $14.59 per MMBTU in the first months of the current fiscal in the international market, compared to $6.97 per MMBTU in the corresponding months of last year, registering 109 percent growth.
