Pakistan Refinery
Pakistan Refinery Limited ceases production temporarily due to 'operational constraints'
Islamabad/IBNS: The Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) on Thursday temporarily shut down its production due to operational and ullage constraints, according to a regulatory filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange, media reports said.
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, according to a report by The Dawn.
A senior PRL executive told Dawn the company was forced to shut down operations after it ran out of storage capacity. The situation arose after the refusal to lift fuel by independent power producers (IPPs) that also have storage for emergency use.
“Since the power sector is not lifting refined fuel oil from the local refineries, almost all of them are facing storage constraints and shutting down further production gradually. Rented storages have massive costs. So no one is interested in that, except one company that plans to export fuel oil,” he said on condition of anonymity.
The source told the newspaper the Power Division had made a mess of things with the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) having imported refined oil in large quantities at the expense of the local refineries.
“The IPPs say they don’t have the money to pay PSO because of non-payment of their arrears. Hence, the PSO was reluctant to supply oil to them,” he added.
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