Import of petroleum coke allowed by road from India

[Devil Soul]

Import of petroleum coke allowed by road from India
KHALEEQ KIANI
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet allowed on Wednesday import of petroleum coke (pet coke) from India for cement industry by road and took a notice of an increase in fertiliser prices.

Pet coke is a by-product of the oil refining process.

The pet coke import through Wagah-Attari by trucks was allowed on a request by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association.

Pet coke is already importable from India via rail and sea routes.

Presiding over a meeting of the ECC, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar came hard on federal secretaries for shying away from the media and preparing half-cooked summaries, resulting in negative perception of the government.

He was critical of the secretaries who he said were producing summaries to the ECC without consulting their respective ministers, came to the meetings unprepared and then leaked information to the media that the finance minister was not taking interest in policy decisions.

“The ECC shall not entertain any summary that is not cleared by the respective minister,” he was quoted as telling the secretaries.

Mr Dar said the respective ministers and secretaries were also not taking notice of negative media reports and it was not practically possible for the finance minister to respond to every report. From now onwards, every ministry would be required to respond to the media reports within 24 hours.

“If the media report is correct, the minister and secretary concerned should accept it and take remedial measures and if it is incorrect, a proper rejoinder should be issued to clarify the situation. But nothing should go unaddressed,” the minister said.

He directed that the secretaries of economic ministries should come to the ECC meeting fully prepared with complete information and bring their cases before ECC after completing consultations with other divisions where necessary so that a timely decision can be made.

The minister said that budgetary discipline should be maintained by all ministries and no cases for regular supplementary grant be moved unless critical. The secretaries shall be responsible to remain within the reduced budgetary allocation and exercise austerity, instead of moving cases for supplementary grants.

He was particularly perturbed over a summary for provision of natural gas to Engro Fertiliser at lower rates that is reported have created opposition from Mari Gas Company and some other stakeholders and inability of the ports and shipping secretary to explain what kind of ships could operate through Gwadar port.

Mr Dar asked the ministry of petroleum to frame a proper question to the law ministry and seek its legal opinion on contract with Engro, the pricing regime and the impact on Mari Gas revenues so that the ECC could take a decision.

The minister for national food security and research informed the meeting that fertiliser companies had arbitrarily increased prices of urea by Rs150 per bag. The ECC took a serious notice of price increase and called a meeting with fertiliser companies on Friday to discuss the matter.

The chairman of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan briefed the meeting on incidental and financial costs on imported urea from Karachi and Gwadar and said that against a credit line of Rs143 billion from various banks which is near exhaustion an additional amount of Rs122bn has accumulated on account of subsidy since 2004.

Mr Dar raised serious objections over accumulation of dues of TCP and observed that officials should have brought the issue earlier and regretted that old liabilities of previous governments had been brought to the ECC.

The meeting decided to constitute a committee headed by the minister for national food security with finance and commerce secretaries as its members to review the incidental cost on import of urea including the role of National Fertiliser Manufacturers Limited. The committee will also suggest steps for resolution of the issue.

The ECC appreciated assistance of $1.86 million for purchase of wheat being provided by the World Food Programme for people affected by earthquake in Balochistan and its purchase from Passco at cost.

The meeting decided to allow Lucky Cement Limited to remit $40m in four quarterly instalments of $10m each as equity investment from inter-bank market for setting up a cement manufacturing plant in Congo.

The ECC had earlier allowed the company to purchase it from open market.

 

[Sugarcane]

At-least it looks that we got some kind of govt. after 5 years blackout. These secretaries aka bureaucracy are the most corrupt lot, nobody can do any big corruption without their assistance but all blames goes to politicians.

 

[niaz]

Cement is one the few energy intensive industries that experienced international a slight fall in selling price over 2007-12 period despite the cost of production rise of between 5 & 20% on account rising energy and labour costs.

Petroleum coke is an alternate to coal as a fuel. Pet coke is more difficult to burn and to grind and should ideally be blended with coal, however its maim advantage is price. Generally delivered pet coke prices have been at about 80% of the coal prices during 2006-2012 period.

According to my info, about 60% of total fuel used in the cement industry world-wide is coal compared to 20% petroleum coal; the rest being gas & fuel oil. However in Europe figure for pet coke is 42% versus 24% coal.

This is a step in the right direction and would make Pakistan cement industry competitive in the world markets.

 

[Cheetah786]

At-least it looks that we got some kind of govt. after 5 years blackout. These secretaries aka bureaucracy are the most corrupt lot, nobody can do any big corruption without their assistance but all blames goes to politicians.

Zardari did a lot in five years Ask Armstrong his accountant Any how this is Good Move for the industry.

 

[Sugarcane]

Cement is one the few energy intensive industries that experienced international a slight fall in selling price over 2007-12 period despite the cost of production rise of between 5 & 20% on account rising energy and labour costs.

Petroleum coke is an alternate to coal as a fuel. Pet coke is more difficult to burn and to grind and should ideally be blended with coal, however its maim advantage is price. Generally delivered pet coke prices have been at about 80% of the coal prices during 2006-2012 period.

According to my info, about 60% of total fuel used in the cement industry world-wide is coal compared to 20% petroleum coal; the rest being gas & fuel oil. However in Europe figure for pet coke is 42% versus 24% coal.

This is a step in the right direction and would make Pakistan cement industry competitive in the world markets.

This can be used in other industries like fertilizers?

Zardari did a lot in five years Ask Armstrong his accountant Any how this is Good Move for the industry.

And Nawaz Sharif his beratheri's PM stopped recognizing his degree, now he is planing to open Nihari shop at kot lakhpat.

 

[Cheetah786]

If i am not mistaken power producers steel and aluminum can also use this. Niaz bhai prolly knows more about it then me and Armstrong, since i sold Armstrong the degree but in my defense, i told him very clearly only to be used to gain a political office no good for actual accounting.

 

[niaz]

I do happen to know a little about manufacture of petroleum coke primarily because it is part of the refining technology. Coke is essentially the carbon in the crude oil that cannot be recovered in normal refining processes - comprising about 5-7 wt% of each barrel of crude. Quality of Coke depends upon the quality of the feed which is itself dependent upon the type of crude oil feed of the refinery.

I am familiar with the ‘Delayed Coker ‘. I shall attempt to describe it for the benefit of non-refiners in simple terms.

In a delayed Coker, the incoming residue charge from vacuum distillation unit is mixed with Coker gas oil (CGO), and the resultant stream is heated to about 500 Deg C. The tubular furnace being the most important part of the plant.

It is called ‘delayed Coker’ because residence time in the furnace is small and cracking is delayed until the feed enters the coking drum. End result of cracking is vapour phase which is removed and the solid carbon or coke that is left behind. There are at least 2 vertical Coker drums so that after one is filled with coke, the second drum is operated and first drum de-coked.

Light ends are separated into LPG, Coker naphtha, light Coker gas oil & heavy Coker gasoil and processed further into gasoline & diesel.

Extraction of coke from the drum is thru high pressure water jets (1200 to 3,500 psi). The product is called green coke.

Being essentially ‘Carbon’ green coke is very similar to coal and used as fuel in cement & power plants. However coke is a much harder material than coal and costs a 2 -3 dollars per ton more than coal before it can be used as boiler fuel. In Europe Sulphur is also removed using limestone.

Green coke with low metal content is used to produce high grade coke called calcined Coke. This is again a very high temperature process where green coke is subject to high temperatures (about 1330 Deg C) in rotary kilns to produce calcined coke.

Calcined coke is used to make Anodes for the Aluminium, Steel & Titanium smelters.

 

[Sugarcane]

However coke is a much harder material than coal and cost a 2 -3 dollars per ton more than coal before it can be used as boiler fuel.

In previous post you said that up to 2012, pet cock's cost 80% of coal, now you are saying it's expensive than coal? or i am confused because lot of technicalities in your post?

 

[niaz]

In previous post you said that up to 2012, pet cock's cost 80% of coal, now you are saying it's expensive than coal? or i am confused because lot of technicalities in your post?

International price of coke has been on the average 80% of the coal price. In modern coal fired power plant boilers coal is pulverized before it is burnt. Coke is harder than coal and normally has higher Sulphur content. Therefore even though it is still cheaper to use pet coke; European experience is that handling costs are about 2 Euros (roughly $3/-) per metric ton higher.

Inconvenience due to confusion is regretted.