Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO), the country’s largest oil marketing company, held a corporate briefing session on 22nd June 2023 to discuss its financial performance of 9MFY23 and future outlook.
The company reported a 84% YoY decline in earnings to PKR 10,285mn (EPS: PKR 21.91) in 9MFY23, mainly due to inventory losses, higher finance costs, and absence of significant penal income from the power sector. The company’s market share also witnessed a meagre improvement to 50.6% in 9MFY23 from 50.0% in SPLY.
The sales volumes of MS, HSD, and FO dropped by 15%, 19%, and 45%, respectively during 9MFY23. The company attributed the significant reduction in FO sales to the government’s reluctance to purchase power from FO-based plants.
The company informed that it has upgraded 79k tons of existing storage, while its total storage capacity has reached 1,140K tons. During FY23TD, the company has added 32 new outlets.
The company said that it is shielded by the government from foreign exchange losses by passing on the impact by raising product prices. The company also disclosed that it expects circular debt related to RLNG to climb up further as the government shifts RLNG to the domestic sector from the industrial sector without devising a mechanism to manage price differential.
The company revealed that it has expansion plans for Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), for which a field study is ongoing. The company said that post-expansion the refining capacity of PRL will double. The expected CAPEX for the expansion is ~PKR 1.7bn.
The company said that it is in talks with the government for a reduction in turnover tax regime. The company also shared that it is focusing on improving its footprints in electric vehicle charging segment in the country. Moreover, the company is working on new ideas such as oil change and car service on doorstep.