ARL to build clean autofuel secondary units

[LahoreEstate]

SINGAPORE (April 09 2009): Attock Refinery Ltd (ARL) will start erecting a new 12,400 barrels per day (bpd) diesel hydrotreater and an isomerization unit at its refinery before end-June to produce cleaner autofuels, an industry source said on Wednesday.

The hydrotreater is used for removing sulphur from diesel produced at the 40,000-bpd refinery in Rawalpindi, while the isomerization unit helps boost the octane level and reduces benzene and olefins in gasoline. This moves enable ARL to move to Euro II emission standards, which limit diesel sulphur content to 0.05 percent.

"It will take about 30 months before the new units can become fully operational," he said. The refinery is currently running at 37,500-bpd capacity as a 5,000-bpd crude unit has been shut for maintenance last month. "The unit is expected to start up on April 30 (2010)," he added.

The refinery is also expected to restart a gasoline-making unit on April 10, following a routine maintenance, which started on March 15. The three-week shutdown of the reformer has affected domestic supplies, causing Pakistan State Oil to continue sourcing for spot cargoes from the market to plug the production gap.

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