Low crude stock: Attock Refinery shuts down main crude distillation unit

ISLAMABAD: The Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) has shut down its main crude distillation unit having the capacity to refine crude 32,400 barrels per day due to very low crude stock as most of the local gas fields in KPK have been closed down by the government to manage the inflow of imported gas, LNG. This was revealed by the ARL management here on Monday (May 27, 2025) to Pakistan Stock Exchange. “The unit will remain shut till June 1, 2025. Owing to the imported LNG, there has been a persistent high pressure in the national gas transportation network resulting in forced curtailment of gas production from local oilfields. This has also resulted in the reduction of oil production and supplies to the ARL.”

When contacted, Managing Director of Attock Refinery Limited Adil Khattak said that the local gas fields have been shut down to cope with the line pack pressure in the main gas transportation line which remains over 5 bcf owing to inflows of LNG. When the line pack pressure increases, the government decreases the outflow of gas from local gas fields and sometimes they are closed down causing a massive reduction of oil supplies to ARL.