The Sultanate of Oman recorded an increase in the production of standard grade petrol (M-91) by Omani refineries at the end of April 2019 by 11%, with the output surging to 5.27 million barrels compared to 4.75 million barrels produced in 2018. The surge in production of standard grade petrol over super grade petrol was supported by a significant growth in demand.
The output of super grade petrol (M-95) reached 4.30 million barrels till the end of April 2019, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). Gas oil (diesel) output fell by 3% to 8.81 million barrels, while aviation fuel production jumped by 11% to 4.77 million barrels at the end of April 2019, over the same period of 2018. Production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rose by 10% to 2.53 million barrels during the period under review. Of the total production of M-91 grade petrol (which is the cheapest petrol available in the market), 3.57 million barrels were sold in the domestic market. However, domestic sales of M-95 grade petrol rose by 42% to reach 4.09 million barrels, while sales of gas oil (diesel) within the country was at 5.18 million barrels during the four-month period of 2019. Domestic sales of aviation fuel oil and LPG rose by 3% and 1% to reach at 1.59 million barrels and 891,000 barrels in April 2019, respectively.
As far as petrochemicals are concerned, production of polypropylene by Orpic in April 2019 was 96,000 tons, while output of paraxylene and benzene fell by 1% and 16% to 204,000 tons and 59,000 tons, respectively. Further, Omani refineries exported 62,000 tons of benzene in the first four months of 2019, while exports of paraxylene and polypropylene stood at 199,000 tons and 86,000 tons, respectively.(