By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has agreed a joint venture with China to build a $10 billion refinery and petrochemical complex on Pakistan’s southwestern coast, nearly three years after the project was shelved.
Saudi officials will visit Pakistan in November to explore investment in the oil and gas sector, including a refinery and petrochemical project in Gwadar.
The visit will be a follow-up of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to the Kingdom in April soon after assuming the top political office of the country.
During the PM Sharif visit, Saudi Arabia extended an oil loan facility to Pakistan and also rolled over $3 billion deposits to help support its foreign currency reserves.
The two countries then also agreed to work to further augment and diversify their bilateral ties, particularly in trade, investment and employment generation opportunities.
They also discussed exploring possibilities to sell out two RLNG power plants and the possibility of making investment in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
A preparatory meeting was held under the chairmanship of advisor to PM on Establishment Ahad Cheema, special assistant to PM on Government Effectiveness Jehanzeb Khan and PM’s special assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi in which representatives of different relevant ministries participated.
“It was told during the meeting that Saudi Arabia was ready to explore possibilities for making a joint venture with China to establish an Oil Refinery in Gwadar,” a statement said. “Saudi Arabia’s giant company Aramco has been exploring possibilities for making an investment of $10 billion for establishing an oil refinery in Pakistan.”
Earlier, it was proposed for establishing an oil refinery in Hub but now it is conveyed that it will be established in Gwadar.
“The Ministry of Petroleum has been instructed to finalize and approve Petroleum Policy till end of the ongoing month so that a clear- cut policy can be placed in front of Saudi Arabia’s high-powered delegation next month in order to materialize this possible investment in Gwadar,” the statement said.
In 2021, Saudi Arabia had decided to shift the planned oil refinery to Karachi from Gwadar, the epicenter of the country’s flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, on infrastructural deficiencies of the project in the port city.
Aramco conducted a feasibility report according to which it found that setting up the refinery at Gwadar was not feasible, but said another refinery can be established near Karachi in the next five years.
The statement said: “without undertaking detailed preparatory spadework, this chance of materializing this opportunity will be wasted again so the premier assigned this task to Ahad Cheema to convert this opportunity into a reality”.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
