OGRA gives four refiners the green light to ship fuel overseas as Pakistan's furnace oil exports surpass 307,000 tonnes in three months, despite a sharp rebound in oil-fired power generation.
KARACHI, Nov 11 (Focus Pakistan) — Pakistan furnace oil exports could hit 165,000 tonnes in November after the oil regulator cleared four refineries to ship the fuel abroad, even as power plants burned nearly three times as much of it in September as a year earlier.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) handed Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) the biggest slice, 60,000 tonnes. Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) and Cnergyico PK Limited won 50,000 tonnes each. National Refinery Limited (NRL) got 5,000 tonnes.
Furnace oil plants generated 263 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in September, up 171% from 97 GWh a year earlier. Generation from regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) slumped 56% to 804 GWh as disruptions to Qatari LNG cargoes squeezed the country’s imported gas supply.
The surge came off a tiny base. Furnace oil still supplied only about 2% of Pakistan’s September electricity, nowhere near enough to drain refinery tanks that fill every day the plants run.
So the cargoes keep sailing.
Pakistan exported 307,368 tonnes of furnace oil between July and September 2026. High-sulphur furnace oil (HSFO) made up 246,417 tonnes of that. Monthly HSFO shipments jumped from 29,853 tonnes in July to 123,269 tonnes in August, then cooled to 93,295 tonnes in September. Low-sulphur grades added 52,597 tonnes and medium-sulphur fuel 8,354 tonnes.
Also Read: OGDCL Strikes Fresh Gas in Sindh, Races to Start Production
The quarter keeps pace with a trade that barely existed a few years ago. Pakistan exported more than 1.4 million tonnes of furnace oil in the fiscal year that ended June 2025.
Export approvals and actual cargoes rarely match. OGRA’s monthly clearances for July, August and September added up to roughly 495,000 tonnes. Refiners shipped about 62% of that volume.
The November permits follow the same logic. They let refiners sell; they confirm no buyer, no completed shipment and no export revenue. Overseas furnace oil often fetches discounted prices, and refiners must find takers cargo by cargo.
Every one of those cargoes now needs a political signature. In March, the government ruled that no furnace oil could leave the country without prior approval from the Prime Minister’s Committee on Monitoring of Petrol Prices, citing the regional fallout of the US-Iran conflict. OGRA has since tied monthly permits to conditions that refiners hold strategic reserves for the power sector.
A FIXED BARREL
The deeper trouble sits inside the refineries. Four of Pakistan’s five plants run on ageing hydroskimming technology, which turns a large share of every barrel of crude into furnace oil whatever the market wants. PARCO operates the country’s only mild-conversion refinery.
Demand at home has collapsed. Brokerage Arif Habib Limited estimates local furnace oil sales fell from 3.02 million tonnes in fiscal 2019 to about 600,000 tonnes in 2026, as hydropower, nuclear, coal, LNG and renewables pushed the fuel out of the power mix.
Refiners cannot simply switch it off. A hydroskimming plant that wants more petrol and diesel must also produce more furnace oil. Cut the furnace oil, and the petrol goes with it.
The fix carries a $6 billion price tag. Attock Refinery, NRL, PRL and Cnergyico signed upgrade agreements with the government in September under the amended Brownfield Refining Policy, committing to invest over five years to produce Euro-V petrol and diesel and slash furnace oil output. PARCO, the largest winner in this month’s allocation, did not sign alongside them.
Earlier industry projections put the eventual cut in national furnace oil production at about 78% once upgrades finish.
That day remains years away. Until new units come on stream, Pakistan’s refiners will keep making a fuel the country barely burns, and OGRA will keep signing export permits, one month at a time.
