Refinery with 120,000bpd capacity: Byco set to commence commissioning by June-end

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited, the country’s largest oil refinery having capacity of 120,000 barrels per day is all set to commence commissioning process by the end of June this year.

“With the commissioning of new refinery, the total refining capacity would reach up to 156,000 bpd making it the single largest oil refining complex in Pakistan,” Qaiser Jamal, Country Business Head, Oil Refining, Byco Oil Pakistan said while briefing a group of reporters during their visit to the company’s new oil refinery, here on Wednesday.

At present, Byco has a smaller refinery having a capacity of 35,000 bpd.

He pointed out that the production of Byco’s new refinery, the oil refining complex II (ORC-II) will substitute up to 60 percent of Pakistan’s valuable imports.

Byco also has plans to take immediate steps for augmenting the refining capacity. In the first phase, the refining capacity of ORC-II would be gradually enhanced to 155,000 bpd and in the second phase refinery can be revamped to increase the throughput to l80,000bpd, he said.

He said Byco has, so far, invested over $750 million in this refining and infrastructure project.

“Byco has overcome all challenges involved in the setting up of the refinery and now are moving in the direction where we would be refining first crude oil consignment soon,” Qaiser Jamal said.

It shows Byco’s commitment with the country and also sends a positive message to investors around the globe branding Pakistan to be a suitable destination for making investments, he maintained.

Besides being the biggest oil refinery in Pakistan, Byco has an associated Isomerization Unit for converting and upgrading light naphtha into gasoline which will be environment friendly as the product will be benzene free with reduced sulphur and aromatic contents. This will be country’s first Isomerization Unit with a capacity of 12,500bbl/day, he said.

Presently, most local refineries export naphtha which can be upgraded to gasoline by processing it through Byco’s Isomerization plant, he said, adding that the gasoline obtained from Isomerization, besides rendering value addition to export naphtha, will provide import substitution as currently significant volume of motor gasoline is imported to meet the country’s requirement. Byco Refinery configuration is capable to produce EURO-IV quality specifications of gasoline.

“This is an import-substitution project, which would help us move towards self-reliance in specific petroleum products,” he said.

Additionally, the new refinery also has an associated desulphurization unit which will help substantially reduced sulphur in HSD produced by Byco.

He said due to geographical and geological features, the area where the plant is located is arid and low salinity water is not available. To provide continuous and reliable supply of water a reverse osmosis desalination plant with open-intake sea water has been installed.

On a query, Qaiser Jamal said Byco’s existing 36,000 bbls/day refinery is currently operating at a much lower throughput of 20,000 bbls/day due to shortage of funds. Byco is waiting to be paid (circular debt) an amount of Rs 5.37 billion from the state owned entities to get the much-needed breather, he said.

Byco marketing has been able to establish over 216 retail outlets and is growing stronger by the day, he added.

Byco receives imported crude oil at the Fauji Oil Terminal (FOTCO) at Port Qasim. This crude oil is transported to the refinery by road through bowsers.

In order to reduce costs as well as environmental impact, Byco is installing country’s first Single Point Mooring (SPM) facility in deep part of the Arabian Sea, approximately 15 kilometers from the Refinery at Mouzakund, Balochistan.

Universal Terminal Limited (UTL), wholly owned subsidiary of Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited, was set up to facilities the logistics of petroleum products.

Imran Farooqui, CEO of UTL, in his presentation said that the company has initiated development of Pakistan’s first Single Point Mooring (SPM) Buoy for offloading crude oil and related port facilities with the accompanying infrastructure with the help of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited. The SPM is being set up in the North Arabian Sea at a distance of approximately 15kms from the Byco’s Mouza Kund site located at Hub, Balochistan. Work on the project commenced in January this year and will be completed by the end of this month.

He said SPM is strategically located to feed the two Byco refineries with a combined initial throughput of 156,000 barrels per day. The facility has been designed in such a way that it can support one more pipeline for import and export of petroleum products and petrochemicals.

Muhammad Akram Peracha, General Manager, Oil Refining Complex I & II said on the occasion that the SPM project will be the third liquid cargo port after KPT and PQA with a draught of 25 meters. This will allow larger crude carriers to come to SPM port. At the moment; the two existing ports cannot take a crude carrier of larger than 75,000 DWT.

He said importing crude through larger carriers will not only result in lower administrative cost but will also result in a saving on account of difference in freight charges, thus giving SPM a strategic advantage and savings to the exchequer.

UTL has also invested in Crude and Petroleum Product Storage Terminals totaling 140,000 metric tons (MT) at Keamari and Mouza Kund, Hub (Balochistan).

He said the facility developed at Keamari is being used for jet fuel business. The technical team of Byco has completed major in-house design modifications and refurbishments at this terminal such as Automated Product Loading, Metering and Weighing Systems and enhanced its capacity to store and dispense 11,400 MT of Jet Fuel. The storage developed at Mouza Kund site at present can store 130,000 tons of crude oil. UTL is also developing storages and terminal facilities across the country in phases.