Ogra proposes construction of ten new oil storage facilities

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has proposed the construction of 10 new oil storage facilities, having a combined capacity of 304,445 metric tons petrol and 446,335 diesel, during the financial year 2018/19.

Moreover, 10 new oil marketing companies are expected to be established next year for more effective supply of petroleum products across the country, officials told APP.

They said the government has imported 60.4 million-barrel (mbbl) crude oil and produced 21.8mbbl oil locally during eight months of the current fiscal year from July to February to meet ever-growing energy needs of the country.

The annual consumption of petroleum products in the country remained around 26MT during the last fiscal year. The officials said the indigenous crude oil met only 15 percent of the country’s total requirements, while 85 percent requirements were met through imports in the shape of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

The indigenous and imported crude is refined by six major and two small refineries, they said, adding that the government is making efforts to bring improvement in the existing refineries, as well as attracting foreign investment in the sector.

Recently, the officials said, Byco Oil Pakistan Limited (Byco) had established an oil refinery in Hub, Balochistan, with the refining capacity of 120,000 barrels per day (5 million tons/annum) at a cost of $400 million.

Byco had also installed Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facility for transportation of imported crude oil and petroleum products from ships to the storage tanks, they said.

The capacity of the facility was 12MT/annum. While Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) had started Euro II (0.05 percent Sulphur HSD), besides it installed an isomerization plant and enhanced the production of motor gasoline.

The officials said Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) had also installed an isomerisation plant in 2016 and since then its production of motor gasoline had doubled.

Pak Arab Refinery Limited (Parco) was implementing a coastal refinery project at Khalifa Point, near Hub, Balochistan, which was a state-of-the-art refinery, having the capacity of 250,000 barrels per day (over 11 million tons/annum). The project’s estimated cost is over $5 billion, while 1,811 acres of land has been allocated for the purpose.