Petro Products Sales Dip 0.5%

The consumption pattern of controlled petroleum products has undergone a dramatic change during the first two months of the current fiscal.

Overall sales of diesel, which accounted for over 41 per cent of total petroleum product sales during fiscal 2001, and kerosene declined by 3.9 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively, while that of petrol and LPG registered a growth of 10 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

Total petroleum product sales continued to be sluggish and declined by about 0.5 per cent to touch 15.19 million tonne against 15.26 million tonne in the previous year, according to figures compiled by the Oil Coordination Committee (OCC).

Retail sales of diesel, which so far accounted for almost 41 per cent of all petroleum product sales, declined to 5.1 million tonne from 5.33 million tonne, while that of petrol, helped by a surge in two-wheeler sales among other things, increased from 1.04 million tonne to 1.15 million tonne.

Sales of LPG, mostly used as a cooking fuel, increased from 0.96 million tonne to 1.08 million tonne, while that of kerosene, the other cooking fuel has gone down by 4.67 per cent, due to reduced quotas of states through the public distribution system.

The consumption of lubes during April-May 2001 dropped to 88,000 tonne from 96,500 tonne during the same period last year.

For the past two financial years, volume sales of lubricants have remained flat, after a steady rise for many years preceding that.

The lubricants and greases industry, hit by the slowdown in industrial production and automotive sales, suffered a sharp 7.8 per cent decline during the first two months of the current fiscal.

Karthik Ramakrishnan, oil & gas analyst at Sunidhi Consultancy Services said: "The virtual standstill of all infrastructure projects has restricted the movement of capital goods, thereby affecting diesel sales. Kerosene sales have suffered because of the reduced quotas to the states through the public distribution system (PDS), forcing more people to use LPG as a cooking fuel. Also, there is hardly any waiting list for LPG connections now, contributing to its increased sales."

Industry sources also feel that with increased use of CNG and LPG as automotive fuels in the future, diesel sales will continually be reduced.

Sales of aviation turbine fuel, which has recently been decontrolled, increased marginally from 3.72 lakh tonne to 3.79 lakh tonne.

Among the PSU oil marketing companies, marketshares of Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have increased marginally, at the cost of Indian Oil and IBP, according to the OCC figures.