ISLAMABAD: News of fuel crisis is again in the offing as oil companies warned about imminent closure of local refineries over the weekend.
Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), a representative body of various oil market companies and several refineries said refineries production had reached a critically low point and was on verge of complete shutdown which could affect jet fuels, reported Dawn.
This follows an earlier decision of pulling the plug on furnace oil use in power plants by the government in end of October, which caused havoc and raised nightmares for local refineries like Byco and Attock which then warned of imminent closure of their operations.
Jet fuels shortage at all airports had reached dangerous levels. Throughput depletion has caused major supply disruption on all POL products. Fall in production at refineries has caused a major dent on availability of JP-1 fuel used in commercial aircrafts and JP-8 to the Air Force, said OCAC in a letter addressed to petroleum secretary Sultan Sikander Raja.
State-owned oil giant Pakistan State Oil (PSO) had issued advisories to aircraft operators and its clients to not rely on refuelling in Pakistan and fly with additional fuel instead. Due to looming shortage, PSO has already placed an order for two additional jet fuels vessels which are expected to arrive by coming weekend.
OCAC said Pakistan’s largest refinery-Byco is closed for a third week in a row and Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) was compelled to recycle furnace oil so its machinery remained operational. But OCAC warned PRL would cease operations on Monday and which could jet fuel shortage to Karachi Airport.
An earlier warning issued by PSO last week said it forwarded more than five warnings to petroleum ministry regarding forthcoming dry-outs at airports which could force Civil Aviation Authority to declare NOTAM – a situation where a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) is issued to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the safety of the flight.
PSO cautioned up-country airports like Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Peshawar could face supply disruptions due to shortage of jet fuel and dry-out is expected imminently at Lahore airport by December 8/9, 2017, followed by Islamabad airport on December 11/12, 2017.
Efforts to raise furnace oil consumptions had been raised with power division said an official at the petroleum division but response received hadn’t been positive.
An official at power division stated since electricity demand had shot down due to onset of winter, supplies were being met by cheaper plans i.e. hydro, natural gas, imported re-gasified natural gas (RLNG), coal and nuclear.
The continuing zero or low usage of local furnace oil could lead to product shortfalls, said the petroleum division official.
He added “When a Refinery operates, it produces the whole range of product, from LPG, petrol, kerosene, diesel, Jet Fuels (JP-1 and JP-8) and residual furnace oil (RFO). With RFO not being used, storages have filled up, forcing the refineries to reduce throughput to the bare minimum. Critically needed volumes of Jet Fuel (JP-1 for the airports and JP-8 for the Air Force) are already under threat.”
Efforts afloat in a series of meetings with power division officials to provide respite to refineries hadn’t paid dividends, said OCAC.
Oil industry suggested the formation of a proper forum which would be responsible for planning of energy supplies to power sector considering this was the second instance when a supply crisis had erupted due to a lack of planning and poor management on part of national power control centre, which could jeopardize the country’s oil supply chain.
OCAC said forum should comprise members from Wapda, Ministry of Energy, Power & Petroleum divisions, PSO and NPPC and be assigned responsibility for planning energy supply of Pakistan for next three months.
