Pakistan’s Cnergyico suspends operation of Baluchistan refinery

Cnergyico Pk Ltd. (formerly Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd.), the country’s largest refiner, has halted production activities amid an oversupply of finished-product stocks at its dual-complex 156,000-b/d refinery at Mouza Kund, in the Lasbela coastal district of Baluchistan Province, Pakistan, 50 km from Karachi.

Cnergyico has “temporarily shut down its refinery due to unavoidable ullage issues” stemming from “alarmingly high petroleum product stocks” at the site, the operator said in a mid-May filing to regulators.

The oversupply issue is mainly due to excess stocks of high-speed diesel and premium motor gasoline, Cnergyico said.

While it did not specify a detailed timeframe for restarting operations at the refinery, Cnergyico requested Pakistan’s Ministry of Oil for its continued support as the operator works to “timely [dispose] of [its] petroleum stocks, enabling [the refinery] to restart production.”

Cnergyico commissioned the first 50,000-b/d leg of the refinery’s newest 120,000-b/d complex in 2014, followed by startup of the remaining 90,000-b/d processing capacity in additional phases through 2017.