KARACHI: Pakistan’s petroleum exports climbed to an all-time high of $939 million in the fiscal year that ended in June 2026, up 3.9% from $903 million a year earlier, according to data compiled by Topline Securities using State Bank of Pakistan figures.
The increase capped a sharp, multiyear turnaround for the sector. Exports had fallen as low as $235 million in fiscal year 2021 before climbing steadily to $415 million in FY22, dipping to $291 million in FY23, then more than doubling over the following three years to $553 million in FY24, $903 million in FY25 and finally $939 million in FY26.
Analysts attributed the FY26 gain to two main factors: weaker domestic demand for furnace oil and a shift by local refiners toward low-sulphur products, including very low-sulphur fuel oil, or VLSFO, which is used as marine bunker fuel. With less furnace oil being consumed at home, refiners have increasingly redirected output toward exportable, cleaner-burning fuels sought by the international shipping industry.
The export data mirrors broader shifts underway in Pakistan’s refining sector this year. Furnace oil, once a mainstay of the country’s power generation mix, has lost ground domestically as electricity producers lean more on liquefied natural gas, coal and renewable sources, industry data compiled by Arif Habib Limited and the Oil Companies Advisory Council show. That has left refiners with a growing surplus of fuel oil to place in export markets rather than sell locally.
Petroleum exports reached an all-time high of US$939mn in FY26, up 3.9% YoY from US$903mn in FY25, driven by lower domestic demand for furnace oil (FO) and diversification toward low-sulphur products, including VLSFO, which is used as marine fuel.#Pakistan #Petroleum #OilAndGas… pic.twitter.com/TukdXp4gIm
— Topline Securities Ltd (@toplinesec) August 16, 2026
Industry Backdrop
Pakistan’s oil refining sector remains a small but structurally important part of the economy, with domestically installed refining capacity of roughly 450,000 barrels per day, or about 20 million tons annually, according to the Petroleum Division’s 2023 refining policy for new refineries.
The country still imports the bulk of its crude: crude oil imports totaled about 9.3 million metric tons in fiscal year 2025, accounting for roughly 72% of total crude consumption, per a sector study published by the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency in December 2025.
The industry has long been criticized for lagging behind global refining standards. Decades of delayed modernization have left Pakistani refineries producing a product slate weighted toward petrol, diesel and furnace oil rather than the higher-value, lower-sulphur fuels increasingly demanded by global markets, according to an analysis published by Pakistan & Gulf Economist in June 2026.
Industry officials have said the country’s heavy reliance on imported refined products and petrochemical inputs continues to strain foreign exchange reserves and expose Pakistan to global price volatility, Arab News reported in January 2026, citing refinery officials involved in a roughly $2 billion refinery expansion under discussion with Saudi Arabia, China and international lenders.
Refining activity has been volatile in recent months. Nationwide refinery product upliftment jumped nearly 48% year-on-year in July 2026, with industry-wide capacity utilization rising to 56.3%.
That followed a decline in May 2026, when total upliftment fell 7% year-on-year amid weaker diesel and furnace oil offtake, before rebounding in subsequent months as furnace oil use for power generation and industrial operations picked back up.
Four listed refiners, Attock Refinery Limited, National Refinery Limited, Pakistan Refinery Limited and Cnergyico PK, along with the state-backed Pak-Arab Refinery Company, make up the core of Pakistan’s domestic refining industry.
