Pakistan’s premier oil refining company, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BPPL) has informed that it has resumed production. In late march, the Ministry of Energy had issued an order to stop all import of petroleum products to all oil marketing companies to ensure that domestic refineries products are fully consumed. Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President of Commercial at BPPL said: “Due to improved POL demand across the country, Byco has resumed production at its oil refinery.”
Khan praised the Ministry of Energy in its efforts to support the domestic refining industry: “We request the government to kindly abolish the IFEM, deregulating the pricing of petroleum products. This will allow market players to compete on prices and services, and save consumers money. Byco thanks the Ministry of Energy for its strong support to the E&P and refining sectors by halting the import of petroleum products since April 1st. Byco is hopeful that the Ministry can continue to facilitate improving demand for products so that we can raise our capacity utilization through firm consistent orders from OMC’s.”
Demand for petroleum products had earlier dwindled in Pakistan as a result of the closure of all schools in the country and the subsequent nationwide lockdowns. The Ministry of Energy therefore took the measure of banning import of all petroleum products. Byco had put its refinery in “cold circulation” earlier due to drying up of demand. Byco stands tall with the nation in showing resilience in the face of the pandemic and is confident Pakistan will emerge stronger as we eventually recover from this crisis.
