The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has made significant progress during the financial year 2018-2019, as the company granted nine provisional licenses to construct storage facilities before establishing Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

This will bring an investment of around Rs4.5 billion in oil infrastructure over the next three years informed OGRA.

The company in 2018-19 also granted permission to six companies i.e. LaGuardia Petroleum (Pvt.) Limited (Sindh), Oil Industries Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited (Punjab), Euro Oil (Pvt.) Limited (Punjab), Flow Petroleum (Pvt.) Limited (Punjab), Taj Gasoline (Pvt.) Limited (Sindh), Hi Tech Lubricants Limited (Punjab) to initiate marketing of petroleum products (after fulfilling their obligation of constructing oil storage infrastructure) to the extent of Region / Province specified along with each OMC.

OGRA during FY 2018-19 granted permission for the operation of new/additional oil storages to Hascol Petroleum Limited at Kotlajam and Shikarpur; Be Energy Limited at Machike; Flow Petroleum at Attock; Laguardia at Daulatpur; Oil Industries (Pvt.) Limited at Sahiwal; Euro Oil at Sahiwal; Taj Gasoline at Shikarpur and Hi-Tech Lubricants at Sahiwal.

In addition to operations, OGRA also granted permission for construction of new oil storages to Attock Petroleum Limited at Sahiwal & Machike; Total Parco Pakistan Limited at Shikarpur & Machike; Gas and Oil Pakistan Limited at Rahim Yar Khan & Hub and Jinn Petroleum at Hub.

Licence to Construct Oil Refinery

Furthermore, OGRA granted a licence for the construction of a new Oil Refinery (Khyber Oil Refinery) with a capacity of 20,000 barrel per day designed on local crude during FY 2018-19. The said refinery is expected to be constructed within five years at the cost of US$ 500 Million. This refinery will help in meeting the upcountry demand and save forex as well as transportation cost from Karachi to upcountry