Pakistan Refinery announces $1.2bn expansion
KARACHI: State owned Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has announced a $1.2 billion expansion, which would increase crude processing capacity to 100,000 barrels/day.
Moreover, with this expansion, PRL will comply with the requirements to produce Euro-V compliant high speed diesel (HSD) and Motor Spirit (MS).
Company will also achieve self-sustainability by upgrading from hydro-skimming refinery to deep conversion refinery thereby, significantly recuing production of high sulphur furnace oil (HSFO).
It may be mentioned here Pakistan Refinery Limited along with other refineries, remained engaged with the government for the finalisation of the Refining Policy.
It is expected that the concerted efforts made in getting the policy approved will bear fruit and the said policy will support refining sector in upgradation to produce high quality environment friendly fuels.
Pakistan Refinery Limited is a Pakistani oil refinery which is based in Karachi, Pakistan. Founded in May 1960, it is traded on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
With the expansion of new refining capacity, Pakistan is likely to expand overall domestic output of transportation fuels, reducing its currently high dependency on gasoline and diesel imports.
Pakistan oil product imports have averaged 97 million barrels/year over the past 10 fiscal years, but this could fall below 50 million barrels/year before 2030 if the refinery expansions and upgrades progress as scheduled, according to market analysts and refinery operation managers surveyed by Platts.
With refineries shifting toward production of transportation fuels, Pakistan is also expected to produce less furnace oil for domestic power production.
Pakistan government has been gradually reducing production of furnace oil at domestic refineries since 2017, decreasing its reliance on furnace oil-powered power plants in favor of other plants that make use of lower-cost fuel sources like LNG.
The country’s furnace oil production totaled 2.223 million mt in 2019-20, down from 2.873 million mt in 2018-19 and 3.262 million mt in 2017-18, according to the data compiled by the Oil Companies Advisory Council.
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