Attock Group claims to invest $600 million
Our Correspondent
Attock Group of Refineries has claimed to invest $600 million to install Diesel Desulphurisation and Isomerisation units.
ARL CEO Adil Khattak said In response to a statement made by Nadeem Babar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum, as reported in the media, asking the refineries to either upgrade in a year or shutdown.
It is most likely that he may have been misreported as he, being a professional and entrepreneur himself, is fully aware that refinery up-gradation is not only highly capital intensive but also takes up to five years.
https://newztodays.com/arl-warns-complete-shutdown-petroleum-division-calls-emergency-meeting-of-omcs/
It is also not fair to say that all oil refineries except PARCO have not been upgraded. Attock Oil Group’s refineries, namely Attock Refinery in Rawalpindi and National Refinery in Karachi, have been regularly upgraded with the latest upgrade only a couple of years back with the addition of Diesel Desulphurisation and Isomerisation units at the cost of US $ 600 Million.
The refinery sector worldwide and more so in Pakistan is currently faced with an existential crisis over the last three years due to thin or negative margins and heavy exchange and inventory losses as a consequence of the general economic downturn accentuated by Covid-19. The refineries, being strategic assets of the country, needs government support to enable it to survive and also to upgrade.
The refineries appreciate the government’s recent measures to change petroleum pricing from a monthly to fortnightly basis and actual exchange rate on imports.
We are hopeful that the deliberations in the working group led by Nadeem Babar now for almost two months will successfully conclude, enabling the refineries to sustain and upgrade to produce Euro V and higher grades of products.
The government is also expected to develop progressive and forward-looking policies for the petroleum downstream sector, which has not been updated since 1997.
