Though volatility in the international oil prices continue to induce volatility in the domestic refinery operation, but there throughput increased by 6pc in July to 697k tons as against 659k tons in the same month last year.
“The improved throughput from Attock group refineries i.e. ATRL and NRL were the primarily reason behind higher sales, while Byco sales also played its role as it was shutdown in the comparable period last year,” said the Topline analyst Nauman Khan.
Furthermore, he said, despite this higher output, the country’s reliance on the imported fuel increase, with local production fulfilling only 44pc of domestic demand as against 46pc last year.
“Uncertain outlook for the refinery margins may lead to sector’s underperformance going forward, but we have liking towards ATRL on the back of i) superior product mix, ii) group synergies and iii) portfolio value,” said Khan. Domestic refinery operated at approx. 71% capacity in July 2012 as against 67% in July 2011 primarily on account of increased throughput from ATRL and NRL.
