close
Thursday March 28, 2024

POL output squeezes 6.34 percent in 10 months

By APP
June 27, 2019

ISLAMABAD: The output of petroleum products squeezed 6.34 percent during first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period of the previous fiscal (2017-18), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed.

The petroleum oil lubricant (POL) products that posted a negative growth include jet fuel oil, kerosene oil, high speed diesel, furnace oil, jute batching oil, and solvent naphtha, posting a fall of 8.83 percent, 2.01 percent, 7.15 percent, 11.47 percent, 12.62 percent, and 28.7 percent respectively.

However, motor spirit oil posted a growth of 6.99 percent, diesel oil 28.07 percent, lubricating oil 12.14 percent, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) 22.75 percent during the period under review.

On year-on-year basis, the petroleum production decreased 9.14 percent during April 2019, compared to the output recorded in April 2018. As per Annual Plan 2019-20, the production of crude oil remained at 21.86 million barrels against target of 32.50 million barrels, showing 67.26 percent achievement during the first eight months of the current fiscal year. On the other hand, the government has set the target for domestic crude oil production at 29.39 million barrels for the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, an official at the Petroleum Division told Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) that the government was making all-out efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in oil refining sector.

Byco has also installed Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facilities for transportation of imported crude oil and petroleum products from ships to the storage tanks and the handling capacity of the said facility is 12 million tons per annum, the official said. Similarly, the official added that Attock Refinery Limited had started producing Euro-II (0.05 percent Sulphur HSD), besides it had also installed isomerisation plant and enhanced the production of motor gasoline. While, Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has installed isomerisation plant in 2016 and since then it has doubled production of motor gasoline, the official said.

Moreover, Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) is implementing its Coastal Refinery project at Khalifa Point, near Hub, Balochistan with an estimated cost of over $ 5 billion, the official said, adding, it would be a state-of-the-art refinery, having a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day (over 11 Million tons per annum).