''Pak Arab Coastal Refinery'' would have an installed capacity to refine 250,000 barrels per day crude Oil. "The country''s biggest refinery is being set up by Parco with assistance of UAE," the DG Oil told media after a meeting of Pakistan''s oil industry representatives at Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited refinery at Hub, Baluchistan.
The DG said that refineries established in the coastal belt of Baluchistan would enjoy a 20-year tax exemption on condition that they manage to refine over 100,000 barrels per day crude oil. The government has offered this special incentive primarily to encourage investment in the local refinery sector.
Without giving any timeframe for the work starting on the refinery, he said that practical work on the multi-billion dollar project would start soon.
Mansoor Shafique Qureshi, vice president of Operations Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited on this occasion said that the company has commissioned a catalytic reformer at its larger oil refinery, ORC-2. The reformer has successfully commenced its operations. This will enable the Company to convert 24,000 barrels per day of Heavy Naphtha into Motor-Gasoline, as per rated capacity. At the combined current level of crude processing at both of Byco''s Oil Refining Complexes (ORC I & II), ie 75,000 barrels per day, the cumulative motor gasoline production has increased 5-fold from 300 tons to 1,500tons per day.
He said: "Byco has invested much time, effort and resources to the commissioning of the catalytic reformer, which will give us the additional strategic advantage of producing significantly more high quality motor gasoline.
He said Byco believes in continuous improvement of its capabilities and our customers will appreciate our commitment to bringing them the best quality products. "Byco has many additional upgrades and investments planned and these will be unveiled as they are rolled out. It already is Pakistan''s largest oil refining firm with a design production capacity of 155,000 barrels per day between its two oil refineries," he informed.
He further said, "Byco''s commitment to investing in innovation is also reflected in its Single Point Mooring which is the first of its kind in the country and still Pakistan''s only floating liquid port which is a national asset: Byco''s SPM has improved the efficiency of fuel delivery for the nation. Due to its strategic position of being in the deep sea, the SPM allows much larger vessels to offload crude oil and refined petroleum products directly without any of the delays and associated demurrage charges."
Additionally the SPM can also be used to export both crude oil and refined petroleum products. This affords great economies of scale to Pakistan''s economy, by avoiding the significant bottle necks at the country''s other conventional ports, he said.
"Byco refines crude oil into various marketable components including Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Light Naphtha, Heavy Naphtha, High Octane Blending Component, Motor Gasoline, Kerosene, Jet Fuels, High Speed Diesel and Furnace Oil. Byco has the largest capacity crude oil storage tanks in the country. The officials said Byco''s marketing network supports retail outlets in more than 80 cities all over Pakistan and is an emerging player in Pakistan''s oil marketing sector. Byco''s diverse and highly skilled workforce consists of approximately 900 dedicated employees across the firm''s divisions," he added.