ISLAMABAD: The government has planned to start ‘physical work’ on the much-delayed Pakistan Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) Coastal Refinery before the next summer to achieve self-reliance in the oil production sector.
A senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told APP that all the formalities including refinery’s design, licensing, engineering work, sizing and product-slab have been completed. Hopefully the physical work on the seven-billion dollar project would start before next summer after its formal groundbreaking.
The refinery approved in October 2007 but remained suspended due to paucity of funds would have the capacity to refine 250,000 barrels BPD, equal to 13 million tons of petroleum products per annum.
He said the present government was working on a prudent strategy to achieve self-reliance in the oil refining sector by upgrading the existing facilities and establishing new deep conversion refineries in different parts of the country.
According to an official report, currently as many as five refineries were operating in the country with an overall installed capacity of 417,400 barrel per day (BPD) oil and contributing significantly in meeting the petroleum needs through indigenous production. Out of which, Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) has 100,000 BPD oil refining capacity, Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) 53,400 BPD, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (Byco) 150,000 BPD, National Refinery Limited (NRL) 64,000 BPD and Pakistan Refinery Limited 50,000 BPD.
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