Gwadar refinery, petrochemical complex to bring down oil import bill by $1.2bln annually: Sarwar

ISLAMABAD, Feb 15 (APP):Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan Friday said all arrangements had been finalized to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Saudi Arabia for cooperation in mineral sector and setting up of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex at the Gwadar deep seaport city, an ultimate destination of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
“Pakistan’s annual oil import bill will come down by $ 1.2 billion with establishment of the petrochemical complex and refinery, having the capacity to filter 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) oil. It will be a significant contribution towards strengthening the national economy,” he said in a media briefing prior to upcoming visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan.
He said Pakistan’s annual oil consumption was around 26 million tons (MT), out of which 13.5 MT was met through local production of eight existing oil refineries. While 50 per cent crude oil is imported to meet the energy needs,” he added.
The minister said Saudi Arabia was also giving Pakistan $3.2 billion worth of oil on deferred payment per year and “this facility will continue for three years and Pakistan will get oil of overall $9.6 billion on deferred payment.”
Commenting on the oil refinery and petro-chemical complex at Gwadar, Ghulam Sarwar said Saudi Arabia would invest over $ 10 billion to establish the facilities for which feasibility study would be started after signing of the MoUs. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also appointed their focal persons and constituted technical teams for the project.”
He said Saudi Arabia was keen to set up the facilities at the earliest, which was reflected by four visits of Saudi technical teams and Energy Minister to Pakistan to inspect the project site and discuss other modalities.
During the Saudi Crown Prince’s visit, the minister said MoUs were expected to be signed in diverse fields including oil refinery and petro-chemical complex, minerals, renewable energy, drug control, youth and sports, media cooperation, combating crimes, deferred payments and cultural cooperation.
He said Saudi Arabia was showing interest to work in mines, fertilizers and phosphate, wind and solar energy sectors, besides establishing a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage facility for maintaining strategic stock of the commodity to meet energy needs of the country.
Answering a question, the minister said, “new vistas of cooperation will be unlocked on arrival of Muhammad Bin Salman,” adding that the visit of Crown Prince was the success of economic diplomacy between the two brotherly countries.
“Previous governments have been building personal relations with Saudi Arabia and China whereas under the vision of a new Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has focused on developing the ties based on mutual respect and national interests,” Ghulam Sarwar said.
“Now, Pakistan is a confident country. It is a country on the move and being highly regarded among the comity of nations,” he said, adding that Pakistan had rebuilt and strengthened relations with its traditional friends and allies.
Under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the minister said, Pakistan was a country that stood for peace and would undertake efforts to foster harmony among friends and neighbors.
“It stands ready to be a hub of commerce, trade and foreign investment. A major step in this direction is the overhauling of the visa regime wherein nationals of more than 50 countries would be given visa on arrival.”
After seeing conducive business environment, Ghulam Sarwar said, Air France was planning to resume its service after 11 years, just like British Airways.
“Pakistan is being led by an honest and visionary leadership of Imran Khan, which helped improve the country’s image among comity of nations,” he said, mentioning that that UAE Crown prince visited the country last month, Saudi Crown prince was arriving this month, while Malaysian Prime Minister was scheduled to visit Pakistan in March.