Pakistani Base Oil Project to Cause Brief Shortage BY K. VENKATESHWAR RAO • FEBRUARY 21, 2017
A March turnaround at the only Pakistan refinery with a base oil unit may cause a temporary shortage in the company's supply of lubricant feedstock. Pakistan’s second-largest fuels refinery, operated by privately owned National Refinery Ltd., will be shut for at least 15 days starting March 10 for upgrades and maintenance. NRL will revamp the Karachi refinery’s crude oil processing unit, which has capacity to produce more than 2 million metric tons per year of various fuels, along with its two base stock trains, which can produce a combined 183,000 t/y of API Group I base oils. “The upgrade project of the refinery’s diesel hydrodesulfurization, isomerization and [base oil] units will affect the production of diesel and petrol as well as lubes for some time, but [NRL] will cover up the shortfall with increased production on completion of the upgrade projects,” a senior planning engineer at NRL told Lube Report Asia. The official added that the project is intended to