KARACHI, Oct 27: Attock Refinery Limited (ARL), Rawalpindi, has submitted to the government plans to expand the refinery and build a white oil pipeline from Lahore to Peshawar via Rawalpindi.

The cost of the expansion plans is $75 million, a senior executive of the ARL told Dawn on Saturday.

However, the cost of laying the pipeline — 525-km long — is estimated at Rs10 billion, he added.

The company is awaiting approval of the two projects from the petroleum ministry, the official said.

“It will take two to three months to start implementation of the expansion plans after they are approved,” he added.

He said the new white oil pipeline would not only help reduce the cost of transportation of the petroleum products but also check the pollution and road hazards caused by the movement of over 3,500 tankers. This project will save millions in foreign exchange and in freight pool.

He said the management was also seeking approval from the ministry regarding arrangements for more crude from local suppliers so that the refining capacity could be increased from the current 35,000 barrel per day.

He said the refinery, built in 1992, processed local crudes and did not depend on imported crude. The gross ARL storage capacity for crude is about 51,000 tons for 15 days and for petroleum products 70,000 tons.

In 1999, it installed two modern units for $54 million and it is the only refinery in Pakistan that produces low sulphur furnace oil and low sulphur diesel. The refinery has received ISO-9001, 2000 certification.