October 4, 2018 (MLN): Saudi Arabia has decided to establish a major oil refinery with a production capacity of 500,000 barrels per day, at Gwadar, revealed the federal minister for petroleum, Ghulam Sarwar Khan. The project is expected to require an estimate investment of $8-9 billion.
During a meeting between the Saudi delegation led by energy advisor Ahmed Hamid Al-Ghamdi and Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the two parties resolved to set up a refinery at Gwadar, a report on which will be presented before the federal cabinet today, for approval to sign a memorandum of understating (MoU).
The guest delegation showed promising interest in making investments in other projects within the country’s energy sector, said Minister Petroleum.
Khan informed that the Saudi minister for energy is expected to arrive in Islamabad later this month to sign the MoU. He added that he has extended an offer to the Saudi delegation to join in the $2 billion North-South Gas Pipeline and bid for the upcoming 10 petroleum exploration blocks to be put up for auction shortly.
According to Minister for Planning and Development Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, setting up the refinery would benefit Pakistan more than it would benefit Saudi Arabia given that the execution of this project will bring down Islamabad’s oil import bill by a significant amount and minimize Pakistan’s need for funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to an official statement from the petroleum division, the Saudi delegation has informed that they have visited the site allocated for this purpose, at Gwadar and would like the provision of a suitable piece of land for the refinery.
Officials have further reported that the delegation has also shown interest in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) based power projects.
