Karachi: In a notification sent to the bourse on Monday, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited has announced that it will be restarting production of its 120,000 bpd refinery and will supply oil products to the market starting from the 5th of August.
Byco has installed a new crude charge heater/furnace which is said to be much improved and efficient alongside being equipped with modern safety/security controls, the notification read. Pre-commissioning and commissioning activities of plant are said to be in progress, as per Byco.
In June, Byco’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amir Abbassciy in an interview to Bloomberg stated that the company was expecting to produce 85,000 barrels a day of refined products three months after its operations resume in July. Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had inaugurated the oil refinery based in Hub, Balochistan in 2015 and its crude oil heater got damaged in the fire that raged three months after its opening.
Abbassciy also said that Pakistan’s fuel demand was expected to rise by 7pc to 10pc from 2017 to 2020. He had mentioned from the start of financial year in July, it was predicted that Byco’s revenue would double and cross the $2b mark.
Byco’s shares were trading at Rs21.00, rising 4.12pc since the opening of the stock exchange earlier this morning. At the time of filing this report, the KSE-100 index had risen by 932.84 points (2.03pc increase) to reach 46,844.87 points in first 1.5 hours of trading.
Restarting of Byco Petroleum Pak ltd is a happy news for the consumers of petroleum products in Pakistan where demand is increasing so fast even in the current uncertainty in the Pakistan economy due to various factors, not to speak of rising demand abruptly say to be doubled in the foreseeable next decade with the buoyant economy of Pakistan.