During the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2023, the country experienced an economic slowdown, which had a significant impact on the oil industry. The oil import bill decreased by 21.84%, while local production of petroleum products declined by 11.23%.
As a result, exports of petroleum products saw a substantial decrease of 24.61% compared to the previous year. Foreign sales of crude oil and petroleum products also declined by 21.97% and 32.65%, respectively.
Despite higher international prices, the oil imports in dollar terms dipped by 21.80% to $15.38 billion during the 11-month period, as reported by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
However, due to significant currency devaluation, the decline in rupee terms was relatively lower at 6.88%, amounting to Rs3.713 trillion this year compared to Rs3.474 trillion last year.
The import of petroleum products, according to PBS data, witnessed a substantial decrease of 32.67% to $6.74 billion during the 11-month period, compared to $10.02 billion in the same period the previous year. In rupee terms, the import of petroleum products dropped by 8.86% to Rs1.617 trillion year-on-year.
Similarly, the import bill of crude oil experienced a decline of 4.99% during the 11-month period, amounting to $4.52 billion compared to $4.75 billion in the same period last year.
However, the rupee value of crude oil imports increased by 30.44% to Rs1.09 trillion year-on-year. The economic slowdown is believed to be the main reason for the reduction in import quantities of crude oil and petroleum products.
The import bill of liquefied natural gas (LNG) also saw a decrease of 19.07% to $3.47 billion during the 11-month period, compared to $4.28 billion in the same period the previous year. However, the rupee value of LNG imports increased by approximately 12.31% to Rs848.90 billion, indicating a loss in exchange rate.