Refineries' capacity utilisation rises to 69 percent

The country's refinery capacity utilisation increased to 69 percent in November 2010 as compared to average utilisation of 63 percent in the first five months of FY11. "The production ramp-up from Parco has pulled up country's refinery capacity utilisation to a decent 69 percent in November 2010 as against average utilisation of 63 percent in the five months of FY10, partially mitigating the impact of curtailed throughput from Byco in November 2010", analysts said.
During November 2010, Parco capacity utilisation stood at 69 percent while BYCO's stood at a mere 28 percent. On the other hand of the spectrum, ATRL and NRL capacity utilisation continued to be above 80 percent, standing at 85 percent and 81 percent in November 2010, respectively. PRL's refining capacity also stood at a respectable level of 80 percent in November 2010.
"Refinery sector recorded an improved throughout performance during November 2010 despite a steep decline in production from Byco which was bridged by ATRL, NRL and PRL", Nouman Khan, an analyst at Invest Capital and Securities said. However, Byco and PARCO's throughput declined by 29 percent and 12.5 percent on year-on-year basis in November 2010 while ATRL, NRL and PRL throughput witnessed a significant jump of 6.9 percent, 9.7 percent and 30.0 percent on year-on-year basis respectively.