The CEO of Attock Refinery Limited, Adil Khattak, has claimed that between 7,000 to 8,000 metric tons of high-speed diesel (HSD) is being smuggled into Pakistan from Iran every day. This smuggling has significantly impacted local refineries, which have a combined HSD production capacity of only about 15,000 metric tons per day. According to Khattak, this issue is also causing the government to lose billions of rupees in revenue.
Khattak has expressed concern that the government either does not realize the gravity of the situation or is ignoring it due to a lack of foreign exchange for legal imports of deficit products. The smuggling of Iranian petroleum products has been going on for years, but never at this scale. Khattak warned that this issue can lead to a permanent shutdown of local refineries.
The Attock Refinery Limited CEO also highlighted that the refinery has reduced its output to 25% due to smuggled HSD. Additionally, the smuggler mafia is reportedly offering to supply smuggled products to oil marketing companies at discounted rates, minus the petroleum development levy.
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Khattak has urged relevant authorities to address the issue urgently to prevent further damage to the local refining industry and the economy at large.
