 "oil refinery, oil, gas")
Four Pakistani state-owned petroleum companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia to build Pakistan’s largest oil refinery with an investment of $10 billion in the strategic Gwadar Port, according to a media reports.
The MoU to set up the facility with a production capacity of 300,000 barrels per day was signed on Thursday with four state-owned enterprises (SOEs), namely Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), and Government Holdings Private (GHPL), the Dawn newspaper reported.
The four SOEs would join the project through equity participation. The government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is reportedly in the advanced stages of negotiations with Saudi giant Aramco to execute the greenfield refinery project at the strategic Gwadar Port and wants to complete the initial paperwork before its tenure ends in two weeks.
The tenure of Pakistan’s current government will end on August 14.
To facilitate the Saudi investment in refining, the government has recently passed a new policy under which a new deep conversion oil refinery, achieving financial close of the project within five years, shall be eligible for a customs duty of 7.5 per cent for 25 years on petrol and diesel of all grades produced from the date of commissioning of the refinery.
The complex shall have various components such as marine infrastructure, petrochemical complex, storage for crude oil and refines utilities.
