Byco brings five-time raise in gasoline production

KARACHI: Byco Petroleum Pakistan brought its gasoline output up five times to 1,500 tons/day as the company’s second unit started production.

“At the current level of crude processing at the Byco oil refining complexes I and II i.e. 75,000 barrels/day, the cumulative motor gasoline production has increased five times from 300 tons/day to 1,500 tons/day,” Byco said in a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said Pakistan has insufficient refining capacity and so companies are in the expansion mode. “Byco is a profitable company and it is a good development for the industry.”

The new unit would enable the company to convert 24,000 barrels/day of heavy naphtha into motor gasoline as per the rated capacity.

While all the listed refineries witnessed selling pressure, Byco Petroleum gained 4.35 percent at the bourse trading on Tuesday. Byco posted a net profit of Rs1.217 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, while its revenue surged 87 percent to Rs41.35 billion.

Last year, Karachi-based petroleum company raised Rs3.12 billion via sukuk using a credit guarantee.

An analyst said demand of furnace oil is going down as the government is phasing out furnace oil-based power generation plants. “Refineries are fine-tuning with the new dynamics.”

Furnace oil sales decreased 18 percent to 4.7 million tons in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, whereas sales of motor gasoline increased 12 percent to 4.3 million tons during the period.

Byco Petroleum had to revise its refinery throughput owing to the subdued furnace oil demand the industry faced at the start of the current fiscal year. However, the reduced throughput was brought back later. Byco’s oil refining business segment refines crude oil into liquefied petroleum gas, light naphtha, heavy naphtha, high octane blending component, motor gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, high speed diesel, and furnace oil. Late last month, the company inducted new oil tankers in its fleet to transport petroleum products from its refinery in Mouza Kund across Pakistan.

The company’s marketing network supports retail outlets in more than 80 cities nationwide.

The tankers follow safety protocols and guidelines of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority as well as National Highways Authority for white oil transportation. Byco intends to completely modernise its white oil fleet of approximately 200 tank lorries to ensure the safe transportation of Byco’s products across Pakistan.