Pakistan’s refineries throughput declines 4.4%

Floods, and operational problems have led to the third straight year of declines in fuel output at Pakistan’s refineries. The Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) reports that refinery production is down by 4.4% to 7.7 million tons, from 8.1 million tons in 2010. As a consequence, reliance on imported petroleum products remains at more than 60%. Nauman Khan, an analyst at Topline Securities said, “The decline in the throughput is primarily attributed to the month-long plant shutdown of Pakistan’s largest refinery, Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO), on account of floods.” The National Refinery Limited (NRL) remained the only refinery to report an increase in production, with a capacity utilization of 80%. (July 8, 2011)