The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to go ahead with the construction of a US$5 billion oil refinery in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Pakistani officials said yesterday.
The refinery with an output capacity of 250,000 barrels per day was postponed in January because of the global recession and a row over management issues with Islamabad.
“The major contentious issues have been resolved and the project will soon be kicked off,” a senior official of Pakistan’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said.
The Khalifa Coastal Refinery project is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and the Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO), which is jointly owned by Pakistan and Abu Dhabi.
PARCO will hold 24 percent of shares and IPIC the other 76 percent in the refinery to be built in the coastal area of Hub. The Pakistani government will own 60 percent of PARCO’s share.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said PARCO approved initial funding of US$500 million as part of its contribution to start the project.
“Out of this total amount, the PARCO board of directors approved immediate release of US$13 million to start subcontracting work related to the implementation of the KCR project,” he said.
Mehmood Saleem, a senior official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, confirmed that “the project will hopefully be launched” next month, since PARCO had approved the initial funds.
“Now the IPIC and government of Pakistan will finalize the modalities to kick off the project next month,” Saleem said.
The proposed refinery will produce energy fuels out of Arabian and Iranian crude oil, and its final cost is expected to go beyond US$5 billion partly because of the “foreign exchange component,” as well as the project expansion plans.
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