ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s total petroleum products consumption grew 3.5% in the current fiscal year compared to the previous year, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey, as a broad-based recovery in transport activity drove fuel demand across the country.
The transportation industry was at the forefront here with an increase in petroleum use of 6.7%, constituting 82% of all fuel consumption across the country. In numbers, the industry used 11.2 million metric tons of petroleum in the period under review, showing clearly that road networks are the mainstay of energy demand in Pakistan.
Industry Bucks the Trend
While transport surged, the industrial sector moved in the opposite direction. Use of industrial Petrol decreased by 42.6% to 433,000 metric tonnes, bringing the proportion of the entire fuel utilization in the sector down to merely 3.2%. This shows that the industry of Pakistan faces continuous structural challenges, with most sectors moving towards the usage of gas or alternate fuels.
The consumption figures come against a backdrop of significant global energy market stress. Despite the volatility stemming from the US-Iran conflict and broader uncertainty across international commodity markets, Pakistan maintained uninterrupted fuel, electricity, and essential goods supply throughout the period an outcome the government attributes to early and coordinated intervention at the policy level.
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The government maintained strategic oil reserves sufficient to meet at least four weeks of national demand, helping prevent supply disruptions despite volatility in global shipping and energy markets.
As a means to improve coordination between the sectors of energy and the supply chain, the government created the National Coordination and Management Council, which included all key players managing the flow of fuels and commodities within one institution.
The Introduction of Real-Time Monitoring
In a departure from usual operations, real-time dashboards were used to track the level of oil inventories, key commodities inventories, foreign exchange balances, and supply chain status. The move gave decision-makers live visibility into potential stress points reducing response times and enabling faster course corrections when disruptions emerged.
The dashboards represent part of a broader effort to modernise Pakistan’s energy governance infrastructure at a time when global supply shocks have exposed the vulnerabilities of reactive, rather than anticipatory, resource management.
Bigger Picture
The 3.5 percent rise in petroleum consumption reflects modest but real economic momentum, particularly in freight and passenger transport. However, the near-collapse of industrial fuel demand points to an uneven recovery one where logistics and mobility have rebounded faster than production.
With global energy markets still in flux and domestic economic conditions gradually stabilising, the government’s supply management record this fiscal year offers both a template and a test case for how Pakistan navigates future commodity shocks.
