Henry
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ISLAMABAD: The oil refineries on Tuesday were reluctant to produce clean energy petroleum products according to minimum international standard Euro-II, which has shifted the entire burden on the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
A crucial meeting of oil refineries, officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Ministry of Climate Change was held with Federal Minister of Environment Rana M Farooq Saeed Khan in chair to review the progress of oil refineries regarding the production of Euro-II compliance oil and lubricant products.
The conference room became a silent dock, when Khan grilled the National Refinery Limited (NRL) MD Shoaib Malik for adopting a rude behaviour with his counterpart of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) over the issue of Euro-II compliant oil and lubricant products.
Terming oil refineries as mafia, the environment minister said, Oil mafia is responsible for crucial energy crisis in the country, which refrained from building Kalabagh Dam, he maintained.
The representatives of oil refineries were of the view that they are ready to implement the proposal of Ministry of Environment regarding the production of Euro-II compliant products particularly diesel oil, however the investment of more than $300 million to $400 million is required to install one processing plant to acquire minimum volume of Sulphur 0.05ppm as per international Euro-II standard to produce clean energy fuel products.
However, the mood of the meeting changed again, when it was informed that oil refineries were yet to be ready to implement Euro-II standard Sulphur content in diesel oil to reduce the polluted element to attain clean environment.
Byco Country Business Manager Qaiser Jamali informed the panelists of the meeting that such a huge investment of millions of dollars for installation of processing plant of diesel will have lesser content of Sulphur upto 0.05ppm as per Euro-II standard.
Processing plants could only process oil and lubricants to perforate Sulphur contents, while it could not increase the volume of final product. We are ready to implement the proposal of the environment ministry, if ministry of petroleum draws a comprehensive roadmap for the project, Jamali maintained.
It was also informed to the committee that a meeting of special task force headed by petroleum secretary will be held on Wednesday (today), where important steps could be taken up to resolve the cold war between oil refineries and the environment ministry.
It was also proposed to give six months period to refineries to set up plants to introduce Euro-II.The participants noted that NRL and Attock Refinery Ltd (ARL) were creating problems. NRL and ARL should go after Byco becomes operational, participants said and added that the government will have to change imports after introduction of Euro-II.
It is pertinent to mention here that PSO has to pay ARL Rs 33 billion.
The representative of environment ministry said that India had introduced Euro-III and Euro-IV diesel and auto manufacturers in Pakistan want to export vehicles to India, Therefore, we need to go to Euro-II, -III and -IV to capture the market of India in auto sector, he said.
The environment minister also expressed dismay over the absence of petroleum secretary, however he recommended that concerned ministry will wait for the outcome of the upcoming task force meeting. Later the ministry of environment would take its concrete steps against those oil refineries that will not be able to implement the proposal of the ministry.
It is worth mentioning here that Lahore High Court (LHC) already took its decision in this regard and bounded oil refineries to strictly follow the Euro-II standards in refining oil and lubricant products, however practically, oil refineries seemed reluctant to accept the courts directions.
A senior official from the Ministry of Climate Change informed the committee that oil refineries dont even care about the directions drawn by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources through a letter dated July 30, 2008, to strictly bound all oil refineries to maintain Euro-II standard as production of oil and lubricants and complete the project till July 1, 2012.
However, not a single refinery has taken any step to endorse the directions of LHC as well as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
A crucial meeting of oil refineries, officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Ministry of Climate Change was held with Federal Minister of Environment Rana M Farooq Saeed Khan in chair to review the progress of oil refineries regarding the production of Euro-II compliance oil and lubricant products.
The conference room became a silent dock, when Khan grilled the National Refinery Limited (NRL) MD Shoaib Malik for adopting a rude behaviour with his counterpart of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) over the issue of Euro-II compliant oil and lubricant products.
Terming oil refineries as mafia, the environment minister said, Oil mafia is responsible for crucial energy crisis in the country, which refrained from building Kalabagh Dam, he maintained.
The representatives of oil refineries were of the view that they are ready to implement the proposal of Ministry of Environment regarding the production of Euro-II compliant products particularly diesel oil, however the investment of more than $300 million to $400 million is required to install one processing plant to acquire minimum volume of Sulphur 0.05ppm as per international Euro-II standard to produce clean energy fuel products.
However, the mood of the meeting changed again, when it was informed that oil refineries were yet to be ready to implement Euro-II standard Sulphur content in diesel oil to reduce the polluted element to attain clean environment.
Byco Country Business Manager Qaiser Jamali informed the panelists of the meeting that such a huge investment of millions of dollars for installation of processing plant of diesel will have lesser content of Sulphur upto 0.05ppm as per Euro-II standard.
Processing plants could only process oil and lubricants to perforate Sulphur contents, while it could not increase the volume of final product. We are ready to implement the proposal of the environment ministry, if ministry of petroleum draws a comprehensive roadmap for the project, Jamali maintained.
It was also informed to the committee that a meeting of special task force headed by petroleum secretary will be held on Wednesday (today), where important steps could be taken up to resolve the cold war between oil refineries and the environment ministry.
It was also proposed to give six months period to refineries to set up plants to introduce Euro-II.The participants noted that NRL and Attock Refinery Ltd (ARL) were creating problems. NRL and ARL should go after Byco becomes operational, participants said and added that the government will have to change imports after introduction of Euro-II.
It is pertinent to mention here that PSO has to pay ARL Rs 33 billion.
The representative of environment ministry said that India had introduced Euro-III and Euro-IV diesel and auto manufacturers in Pakistan want to export vehicles to India, Therefore, we need to go to Euro-II, -III and -IV to capture the market of India in auto sector, he said.
The environment minister also expressed dismay over the absence of petroleum secretary, however he recommended that concerned ministry will wait for the outcome of the upcoming task force meeting. Later the ministry of environment would take its concrete steps against those oil refineries that will not be able to implement the proposal of the ministry.
It is worth mentioning here that Lahore High Court (LHC) already took its decision in this regard and bounded oil refineries to strictly follow the Euro-II standards in refining oil and lubricant products, however practically, oil refineries seemed reluctant to accept the courts directions.
A senior official from the Ministry of Climate Change informed the committee that oil refineries dont even care about the directions drawn by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources through a letter dated July 30, 2008, to strictly bound all oil refineries to maintain Euro-II standard as production of oil and lubricants and complete the project till July 1, 2012.
However, not a single refinery has taken any step to endorse the directions of LHC as well as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
