We take strong exception to the contents of your article. Comments are based on total lack of understanding.
KARACHI: This is with reference to the article of August 1 by Farooq Tirmizi and Zafar Bhutta titled “Mergers and acquisitions: PARCO to join PSO bid for Pakistan Refinery”, published on your business pages.
We take strong exception to the contents of your article and are constrained to note that some comments are based on total lack of professionalism and understanding of the refining business.
It is imperative to highlight that the Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) is a recognised National Strategic Asset, having a share of 18 per cent of the country’s refining capacity. We consistently meet 40 per cent of the demand for motor gasoline of the industrial hub of Pakistan and other parts of Sindh. PRL is also meeting 50 per cent of Jinnah International Airport’s jet fuel demand and 100 per cent of supplies to the airport are routed through our pipeline assets. It is important to note that we are the only company which has a jet fuel line connected to Karachi airport. We are also a major fuel supplier to PAF and other armed forces.
PRL has one of the most integrated pipeline networks in the country. Our infrastructure connects the Korangi refinery with Karachi port, Jinnah Terminal and PARCO/upcountry. Anyone knowing even the basics of the oil industry or the intrinsic value of logistics infrastructure would have refrained from using the language in the article.
Additionally, PRL operations are optimised to an extent that our refinery has the lowest operating cost in the country. We have the flexibility to process different grades of international crudes as well as 10,000 to 15,000 barrels per day of indigenous southern crudes, thus contributing to the overall energy supply chain. This, in turn, results in significant savings of foreign exchange by import substitution. Over the decades, we have been consistently upgrading our assets through the installation of columns, furnaces, reactors, a waste heat recovery unit, an effluent treatment plant and a state-of-the-art distributed control system (DCS). Most recently we upgraded the entire motor gasoline production system to increase gasoline yields by 20 per cent. What is important to note is that these upgrades have given us an ‘availability factor’ (a measure of reliable operations) of 97 per cent, which is ahead of numerous international refineries.
Ijaz Ali Khan
MD & CEO
Pakistan Refinery Limited
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2011.
