Karachi November 2 2023: Pakistan Refinery Limited to complete work on Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of Refinery Expansion and Upgrade Project in a period of year.
The Refinery Expansion and Upgrade Project (REUP) will double Refinery’s crude processing capacity from 50,000 barrels per day to 100,000 barrels per day. Work on Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of REUP is progressing as per the agreed timeline with targeted completion by September 2024 and as the next step license and engineering agreements have been signed with technology licensors. The search for the right potential strategic investor continues and PRL is engaged with potential investors in this regard.
The Government of Pakistan announced “Refining Policy for Upgrade of Existing / Brownfield Refineries 2023”. The Policy provides incentives of 2.5% on HSD and 10% on MS in ex-refinery pricing for a period of 6 years. These incentives will support and play a pivotal role in completion of the project. Certain modalities of the Policy are currently under discussion with OGRA and will be finalised shortly.
The financial year 2023-24 began with positive refining margins which complimented the Company’s operational strategy and helped the Refinery generate a profit after tax of Rs 4.48 billion (September 30, 2022: Rs 1.03 billion) despite continued devaluation of the of Pak Rupee and challenges in obtaining confirmation of crude oil LCs. During the quarter, the Company achieved another milestone of the highest ever monthly production and sale of High Speed Diesel (HSD) of ~560,000 barrels and ~ 632,000 barrels respectively in September 2023.