ISLAMABAD — Refinery upliftment, excluding furnace oil (FO), rose 21.6% year-on-year (YoY) in September, driven by a 32.1% increase in high-speed diesel (HSD) upliftment. This surge is attributed to stronger domestic demand and the curtailment of Iranian fuel inflows.
FO sales, however, fell sharply by 57.3% YoY to 99,000 tonnes, likely due to the imposition of a Rs77 per litre petroleum development levy (PDL) and a Rs2.5 per litre carbon levy, which raised the cost of power generation to Rs54 per kWh at 40% efficiency.
Refinery-specific data revealed a 26.4% YoY decline in Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL)’s sales to 97,000 tonnes in September, primarily due to crude availability constraints and elevated system pressure on the SNGPL network. ATRL’s market share dropped to 12%, below its historical average of 14%.
Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) captured a larger share of the market with a 55% market share, driven by increased MS and HSD offtake, which rose 19.4% and 38.7% YoY, respectively. However, PARCO’s FO volumes fell 26.4%.
Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) saw a 10.2% YoY drop in sales to 104,000 tonnes, with a decline in MS and FO offtake but a rise in HSD volumes by 9.8%.
Cnergyico PK Limited’s sales fell 35.3% YoY to 62,000 tonnes, mainly due to lower HSD and FO offtake, down 6.5% and 90.8%, respectively.
National Refinery Limited (NRL) posted a YoY increase of 11.3% in sales, reaching 108,000 tonnes, supported by a rise in HSD and MS offtake by 30.6% and 74.9%, respectively, while FO volumes dropped by 99.5%.
Overall refinery production for September 2025 increased by 1.0% YoY to 866,000 tonnes, led by a 7.1% rise in HSD output to 432,000 tonnes. MS and FO production decreased by 3.3% and 8.1%, respectively.
The industry’s overall utilisation rate in September 2025 was 50.7%, up from 43.5% in August 2025 and 50.2% in September 2024. ATRL, PRL, and NRL had utilisation rates of 65.8%, 63.2%, and 40.9%, respectively, while Cnergyico’s utilisation rate was the lowest at 13.5%.
