Pakistan imported record 267,763 tonnes of petrol last month, breaking the previous highest figure of 233,348 tonnes reported in November 2013.
Total imports during the first 10 months (July-April) of this fiscal year have already reached 1.85 million tonnes, and are poised to cross 1.9m tonnes during the last fiscal year, according to figures released by Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC).
The import of petrol was just 127,000 in 2007-2008, rising to 249,177 tonnes in 2008-2009; 625,019 tonnes in 2009-2010; 1.06m tonnes in 2010-2011; and 1.55m tonnes in 2011-2012.
A refinery operator said sat least three refineries would start producing 600,000-700,000 tonnes of petrol a year by the end of 2015 thus saving foreign exchange of around $60m-70m each year based on the current prices.
