ISLAMABAD: The Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) stated on Wednesday that for the last five months starting July 2023 and till December 12, 2023, the Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) has uplifted more than 90 percent of its MS and HSD allocation from ARL.

The ARL strongly refutes a news item attributed to the Federal Minister of Energy that Attock Petroleum Limited, an associated company of the ARL, is not uplifting full stock of MS and HSD from ARL and the matter has been referred to OGRA.

The fact of the matter is that ARL for the last many months is facing challenges in disposal of its MS and HSD due to less uplifting by all OMCs.

The data from OCAC indicated that product from other sources moved into ARL-fed areas without first prioritising its product and was charged to country IFEM.

As a result, only 38 percent of MS and 47 percent of HSD volumes were uplifted from ARL against total sales in ARL’s supply envelope thus, forcing the company to operate at reduced throughput due to high stocks creating serious planning and operational issues.

All these facts and figures have been shared with the Ogra and has been requested to ensure compliance of Rule 13(g) of the Pakistan Oil (Refining, Blending, Transportation, Storage and Marketing) Rules, 2016, which clearly stipulates prioritising of local refinery production over imports.

It also needs to be appreciated that ARL located in the north of the country, is Pakistan’s strategic asset as its processes more than 65 per cent of the total indigenous crude oil produced the country resulting in substantial saving of precious foreign exchange of the country every month through import substitution.

The ARL continuity and sustainability is essential for the prosperity and economic development of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023