ARL warns of suspending operations: If PSO fails to release Rs 17 billion...

The Attock Oil Refinery Limited (ARL) has threatened that if Pakistan State Oil (PSO) fails to release Rs 17 billion, the company would be compelled to suspend its operations. Top officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told Business Recorder on Friday that ARL refines about 42,000 barrels of petrol per day and PSO owes nearly Rs 17 billion to the refinery.
Talking about the consequences of possible shutdown of the refinery, the official said that if it stops refining only for one day the restoration would take a week due to technical complexities involved. "If the ARL management is thinking of shutting down the refinery it would create serious petrol crisis similar to June this year," the official added. ARL is also producing nearly 600 tons of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) per month. Crude oil from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh is refined at ARL. Punjab, KP, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata are main consumers of ARL''s refined petroleum products.
"With total receivables reaching an alarming Rs 17 billion, the financial situation of ARL has become extremely precarious. The huge outstanding is adversely affecting our liquidity and it would inevitably lead to breakdown in the supply chain, resulting in fuel shortage in the country," an ARL official said.
Pakistan imported 190,000 tons of additional petrol in June to deal with a shortage across the country, especially in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The petrol crisis aggravated due to the closure of the platformer of ARL and burgeoning circular debt. The ARL management had informed Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain that the company would be unable to supply refined fuel to PSO if the state-run company does not pay outstanding dues for last three months, a top ministry official said.