Pakistan Refinery Limited shuts production due to operational constraints

Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has shut its production due to operational and ullage constraints.

The PRL temporarily shut down its production on Thursday because of operational and ullage constraints, according to a regulatory filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange, according to Dawn.

Further, the refinery will stay shut "until the situation improves", said the notice by PRL, which is one of the five refineries operating in the country.

Meanwhile, the company was forced to shut down operations after it ran out of storage capacity and the situation arose after the refusal to lift fuel by independent power producers (IPPs) that also have storage for emergency use, according to Dawn.

Also, PRL is the first casualty of an unprecedented slump in the independent power producers (IPPs) demand for furnace oil (FO). Further, the National Refinery Limited (NRL) is also planning to shut down its operations from December 23, 2021, owing to same reasons, according to reports.

Earlier, five refineries of PRL could together produce about 274,000 tonnes of petrol per month with optimum capacity utilisation.

However, they were producing about 170,000 tonnes a month, which is almost 60pc lower than their combined capacity, according to Dawn.

Similarly, the local refineries are producing 330,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel (HSD) every month, which is about 48pc lower than their total monthly capacity of about 490,000 tonnes.

According to the refinery data shared with the government, PRL's underproduction stood at about 30pc in both petrol and HSD.

According to a research report by Sherman Securities, for next 16 days, refineries will be enjoying a spread of roughly $6/barrel on MS and $12/barrel on HSD compared to around $7/barrel and $14/barrel respectively in the previous fortnight.

( With inputs from ANI )

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