With the onset of the winter season, power generation takes a breather, which is seen in the decline of fuel consumption. With most of the capacity based on thermal generation in the country, one sign of a decline in power generation is the decline in furnace oil consumption. The latest numbers by Oil Company Advisory Council is show that furnace oil volumes sold by the oil marketing companies have come down sharply in November 2016.

Apart from lower power demand in the winter season, the sales of furnace oil have come down drastically as the government switches off some of the mega oil-fired power plants. Furnace oil volumes have come down by 34 percent month-on-month, and around 6 percent year-on-year.

The cumulative volumes for the OMC sector have increased by around 13.5 percent year-on-year in November 2016. And where furnace oil was a major drag on the volumes, the surge in flows coming from petrol (gasoline) and high speed diesel (the retail fuels) was no surprise as well; retail fuels have been the key growth drivers for the OMCs because of high margins. Both petrol and motor gasoline registered over 25 percent increase in volumes for November 2016. In the first five months of FY17, the consumption of three major fuels – furnace oil, petrol and diesel – increased by 17 percent year-on-year.

On a company wise basis, Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) registering 12 percent month on month growth, and Shell too posted a slight increase. PSO’s market share for 5MFY17 also picked up by a percentage point. Hascol continued to be the key gainer - a firm that has been able to elbow its way into the industry quite aggressively over the past couple of years. Will Admore Gas Private Limited (AGPL) soon join the top players in the OMC sector? The column will soon look at what’s in store for Admore; the company has seen some impressive volumetric growth in retail fuels recent times.