PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: Exploration firms could also be compelled to chop manufacturing of crude oil and pure gasoline following the closure of a second plant of Attock Refinery Restricted (ARL) on Thursday.
ARL closed its second unit of 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) attributable to low offtake by the oil advertising firms (OMCs). ARL administration has sought rapid intervention of the Petroleum Division, asking it to direct OMCs to carry regionally produced petroleum merchandise somewhat than giving precedence to imported gasoline.
Earlier, ARL shut down one unit of 5,000 bpd and now it has closed the second plant of the identical refining capability. Shares of high-speed diesel (HSD) have piled up following the refusal of OMCs to carry native petroleum merchandise.
ARL’s operations are completely based mostly on regionally produced crude oil because it lifts gasoline from the native oil manufacturing firms. If the refinery is shut down, your complete vitality chain could also be disrupted and exploration firms could also be compelled to scale back manufacturing that will impression gasoline manufacturing as properly. Following the shutdown of the second plant, ARL’s operational capability has been decreased to 62%.
ARL Chief Govt Officer Adil Khattak wrote a letter to Petroleum Division director normal oil on Thursday and knowledgeable him that they’d no different possibility apart from shutting down one other crude distillation unit of 5,000 bpd right now (Thursday) with the intention to handle the critically excessive shares of HSD.
He identified that it could end in additional discount of crude receipts from the exploration and manufacturing firms.
With the closure of this unit, he stated, ARL can be working at 62% of its nameplate capability. It might be famous that under this capability working the refinery complicated is tough attributable to minimal throughput constraints, he added.
He stated the difficulty was additionally highlighted by an ARL consultant throughout a particular assembly held underneath the chairmanship of further petroleum secretary on March 16, 2020.
As already defined in the course of the assembly, HSD offtake from ARL had slowed down drastically, leading to accumulation of excessive shares with very restricted ullage.
“As of Thursday, we are carrying 14,000 tons of HSD stocks with remaining ullage of hardly one day,” he stated, including “We wish to inform you that OMCs’ failure to lift the product from ARL will ultimately lead to complete shutdown of our refinery, which will result in disruption of the supply chain of E&P companies and associated gas supplies, leading to serious implications for all concerned.”
Revealed in The Specific Tribune, March 20th, 2020.
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