KARACHI: Pakistani Energy Minister Muhammad Ali said on Wednesday the South Asian nation was “actively engaged” with Saudi authorities on a multibillion-dollar Aramco oil refinery project and expected progress within two months.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed several investment agreements worth $21 billion during a visit to Islamabad by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in February 2019. The Saudi investments included around $10 billion for an Aramco oil refinery and $1 billion for a petrochemical complex project that was meant to be built at the strategic Gwadar Port in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.
However, almost four years later, there has been little progress on the project.
“Work on the Aramco oil refinery is going on and we are actively engaged with them, you will see progress on that in next one-two months,” the energy minister told Arab News on the sidelines of the 7th edition of The Future Summit in Karachi.
When asked why the project had been delayed, Ali said:
“It is a big project of $8-10 billion and everything from investment funding, its structuring, and policy framework has to be considered.”
Pakistan's interim energy minister Muhammad Ali speaks during the seventh edition of The Future Summit in Karachi on November 15, 2023. (Photo courtesy: X/@NutshellGroup)
Responding to reports that the project would be built in Hub district in Balochistan, near Karachi, instead of Gwadar, Ali said the decision would be taken by Aramco.
The project contemplates building an integrated refinery in Pakistan that can process up to 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
