July 30, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424

ISLAMABAD, July 29: The Privatization Commission has invited consortiums including investment banks with ample experience in privatization, restructuring and merger in the oil & gas sector to submit their Expressions of Interest (EoIs) to provide financial advisory services for the privatization of National Refinery Limited.

The government has decided to privatize National Refinery Limited with a proposal to sell up to 51pc equity of NRL with the transfer of the management control to a strategic investor.

NRL is a petroleum refining and petrochemical complex consisting of one fuel refinery, two lube refineries and a BTX (petrochemical) plant. It is located in Karachi.

The company’s refineries have a combined processing capacity of 2,710,500 tons per annum of crude oil. During the last five years the plants have been operated at 87pc to 102pc of their crude processing capacity.

For the financial year ended June 30, 2002, NRL’s net sales were more than Rs29 billion and profit after-tax was Rs781 million. The company’s financial performance has improved consistently over the last seven years.

The parties interested in the transaction have been asked to submit their EoIs latest by August 31, 2003 along with their brief profile and the required processing fee.—APP