ISLAMABAD: The country’s domestic production of crude oil increased by around 12.8pc during the first nine months (July-March) of the fiscal year 2018-19.
According to the official data, the domestic production of crude oil remained 24.6 million barrels during the period under review as compared to 21.8 million barrels in the same period of the fiscal year (FY18).
Meanwhile, oil imports decreased by 15.38pc during the period under review, mainly due to an increase in international prices. The quantity of imported crude oil remained 6.6 million tonnes ($3.4 billion) as compared to 7.8MT ($2.9 billion) during the corresponding period of 2017-18.
The oil marketing companies, in the year 2017-18, imported around 13.3MT of petroleum products to meet the ever-growing energy needs. Out of the total, the private sector companies imported around 38pc petroleum products, including high-speed diesel (HSD), high sulphur fuel oil and low sulphur fuel oil (HSFO/LSFO), jet fuel, motor gasoline (MOGAS) and RON (Research Octane Number) 95 and 97.
During the period, around 13,343,737MT petroleum products were imported from nine countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Netherlands, Belgium and Norway.
As many as 3,845,272MT HSD, 4,247,374MT HSFO/LSFO, 236,538MT jet fuel, 5,014,553MT MOGAS/RON-95/RON-97 was imported from these nine countries.
Pakistan imported 8,502,752MT petroleum products from UAE, 1,070,193MT from Oman, 2,078,882MT from Kuwait, 182,574MT from Saudi Arabia, 170,423MT from Singapore, 127,496MT from Malaysia, 1,064,206MT from Netherlands, 89,355MT from Belgium and 57,856MT from Norway.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), being a watchdog, pursues an effective policy regarding sampling and testing of the imported petroleum products for onward distribution in every nook and cranny of the country.
Under the policy, the imported petroleum products, conforming to the approved specifications notified by the Petroleum Division, are allowed to be used in the country.
