Rise in sales of aviation turbine fuel by 39 per cent

IOC, BPCL log 39% jump in ATF sales


JET fuel sellers such as Bharat Petroleum and IndianOil are into big business these days. Their sales of aviation turbine fuel have grown over 39 per cent thanks to rise growth in air traffic. Domestic airlines carried 211.38 lakh passengers from January to May as compared with 170.66 lakh in the year-ago period, registering a 22 per cent surge in passenger traffic.

BPCL sold 88,711 kilolitre (kl) of ATF during March-May, 39 per cent more than 63,746 kl sold in the same period previous year. Similarly, IOC recorded an 8 per cent hike in ATF sales in the past three months. It sold 325,000 kl to 330,000 kl of ATF in the past three months as compared with 305,000 kl in the year-ago period.

However, for Hindustan Petroleum ATF sales came down to 58,000 kl in May from 62,000 kl in the previous month. "We have seen a negative trend in our ATF sales because we lost an international client," said HPCL marketing director S Roy Choudhury. The company couldn't bag the Emirates account this year.

HPCL did not divulge its exact ATF sales in the past three months and a year ago period even after repeated phone calls made by Financial Chronicle.

Petroleum companies have reported higher sales notwithstanding a rise in the ATF price. On June 15, IOC hiked ATF prices by 1.7 per cent i.e. Rs 688 to Rs 40,192 per kl in Delhi. On June 1, oil companies had cut ATF prices by 7 per cent to Rs 39,504 a kl.

Aviation industry experts believe ATF consumption will go up further as airlines are getting back to routes and frequency expansion.

In the ATF market, IOC is the largest oil marketing company with over 60 per cent market share, while BPCL holds 21 per cent and HPCL 16 per cent.


Financial Chronicle, Mumbai, June 22, 2010