Saudi Arabia to sign MoU for setting up Aramco oil refinery in Pakistan: media
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Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a multi-billion dollar Saudi Aramco oil refinery in Gwadar, according to Saudi English daily Arab News.
Earlier this week, a cabinet member confirmed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman would arrive in the country in the first week of February and an MoU for establishing a petro-chemical complex was still being worked out on the request of Riyadh.
Pakistan has already received $2bn in cash deposit from Saudi Arabia at an interest rate of 3.18pc while the third tranche of $1bn is due in the first week of February. The Saudi oil facility would also start rolling out this month with an average $274 million per month.
According to Arab News, it is expected that Pakistan will sign a number of investment deals including the construction of mega oil refinery in the month of February in the presence of a high-level Saudi delegation. The conformation to this effect was given by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
“The oil refinery project is the biggest investment project of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan,” Chaudhry was quoted as saying by Arab News
“A 15-member delegation of Saudi Arabia visited Gwadar from Karachi as part of the finalisation process of the MoU for Aramco oil refinery,” Haroon Sharif, Minister of State and Chairman of Pakistan Board of Investment (BoI), told Arab News.
“We have finalised the MoU for the construction of Aramco oil refinery [...] overall directions have been agreed upon and the agreement will be signed at an appropriate time,” Sharif said.
The BoI chief had said earlier: “We are going to sign MoUs with Saudi Aramco and Acwa Power within few weeks. Saudi Aramco is going to set up oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan while Acwa Power will invest in Pakistan renewable energy sector."
“I am expecting around $15 billion investment from Saudi Arabia in the next 3 years. The inflow of investment for oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan is estimated to be between $6 billion to $10 billion,” BoI Chairman told Arab News.
Last month, Finance Minister Asad Umar had said that an incoming investment package from Saudi Arabia, which promises to be "the biggest foreign investment in Pakistan history", will be announced soon.
Correction: The story earlier erroneously mentioned $15 billion in the headline. A correction has been made and the error is regretted.
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Comments (66) Closed
Jan 07, 2019 12:59pm
V good progress
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Jan 07, 2019 01:04pm
The confidence of the rest of the world is evident in IK's led government.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:06pm
Excellent news
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Jan 07, 2019 01:07pm
Great news mashaAllah
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Jan 07, 2019 01:11pm
No where it is explained why would Saudi Arabia, especially Saudi Aramco would setup a oil refinery in Pakistan? What financial benefit does Aramco have in refining crude oil in Pakistan? It doesn't make sense to ship the crude from Rastanura, KSA all the way across the gulf to Gwadar, refine it there and ship MOGAS back to Saudi or other parts of Asia. There is no financial benefit. Saudi can refine and ship it right from its own territory. I don't think there will be any progress in this. This is just another fluff to fool the public into thinking PTI is doing something.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:12pm
No wonder PPP and PMLN are worried. PTI slowly taking the show away from them once all this money started pouring back into Pakistan.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:13pm
MoUs are just a piece of paper. Dozens like them are still lying on the government desks with no action on the ground.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:15pm
Shreif was setting up sugar mils metro for self gain. A good leader lookafter national interest only with fair justice and harmony among its people with equal rights
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Jan 07, 2019 01:15pm
Inshallah, all the best.T his will be a big boost to the Energy sector.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:21pm
Is it more feasible than Iran gas project?
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Jan 07, 2019 01:26pm
we need another one in kp... ideally karak we want out south kp to be lifted, we also required a dual carriage way to be built all the way from peshawar till gawadar by linking dots between roads already there
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Jan 07, 2019 01:32pm
@Faraz, The refinery is for TAPC ( Turkministan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and on to China) oil pipline. Saudi are taking first mover advantage.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:34pm
This MOU was already signed during the tenure of last government. So why Saudis are resigning the same MOU again?. Or PTI is lying again to steal the credit?.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:40pm
@Faraz, Exxon working on the exploration...hence the need for refinery
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Jan 07, 2019 01:44pm
Very good. Pakistan will be debt free country soon with help of Saudi. More employment in energy sector and Pakistani labour don't need to go to saudiarabia for jobs after this investment in Pakistan
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Jan 07, 2019 01:46pm
Pakistan is lucky to have very educated and honest ministers under PTI. Naya Pakistan Zindabad.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:47pm
However, there will still be people who don't believe in the Naya Pakistan.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:48pm
Good job PTI. We must use the so-called strategic location for the betterment of people & country.
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Jan 07, 2019 01:58pm
Just MOUs from previous 6 months
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Jan 07, 2019 02:13pm
who are the first beneficiaries of the project ??? Baluch people ???
Baluch people should be given priority and should be brought into the mainstream of progress - this the only way to success
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Jan 07, 2019 02:14pm
@Faraz, I believe you are ignoring the fact that Gulf countries especially Saudi Arabia largest Oil exporter to China would also benefit from CPEC infrastructure:
Saudi Arabia sealed deals with Chinese oil importers that will see the Kingdom’s exports to China rise to 1.67 million barrels daily in 2019, Reuters reports, citing a statement from state oil giant Aramco.
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Jan 07, 2019 02:17pm
@Faraz, Do you think all experts who analysing it and then KSA committing it are all idiots and you are the only one smart here?
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Jan 07, 2019 02:35pm
Can someone please explain this to all concerned that MOU is just that - it’s NOT legally binding
Don’t make the same mistake again thinking it’s a done deal
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Jan 07, 2019 02:35pm
lets hope employment opportunity is given to Pakistani national
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Jan 07, 2019 02:37pm
Seems Pak is moving in right direction.
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Jan 07, 2019 02:38pm
It's good for regional development.
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Jan 07, 2019 02:45pm
In Current Oil markets each oil suppliers want to retain market share
with this project KSA gets guaranteed market share In Pakistan market
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Jan 07, 2019 02:50pm
@Faraz, The answer is in your question this refinery is not for Saudi or international consumption its meant for pakistani consumption. Oil refined here can be sent across the country i.e Pakistan
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Jan 07, 2019 03:01pm
@Faraz, Most of refinery output will be used in Pakistan.
The refinery would be more important for Pakistan than Saudi Arabia because it would significantly reduce Islamabad’s oil import bill estimated for current year at $18bn.
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Jan 07, 2019 03:03pm
Iran is not able to compete with Arabs in foreign investments.
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Jan 07, 2019 03:53pm
@Naya Pakistan, .because they analyse and dont believe in empty promises any more.last 4 months have been more than enough to force people to use there thought process
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Jan 07, 2019 03:58pm
Great News. The county is now run by an honest PM and that is the main reason of trust by others.
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Jan 07, 2019 04:28pm
never happened in the years of pml and ppp corrupt government. zardari nawaz just good at looting the country.
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Jan 07, 2019 04:31pm
Signing of MoUs are just a silver lining of clouds. They are not binding on the signing parties and only indicate a sort of goodwill and possibility of an agreement in future, after going through the usual drill.
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Jan 07, 2019 04:57pm
The information is not complete. Too many points are not explained. Although I am PTI supporter I cannot celebrate this news
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Jan 07, 2019 05:36pm
@Faraz, Think Far. This is the farsighted investment by Saudis as CPEC is going to be fully operative very soon.
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Jan 07, 2019 06:15pm
Please don't let them bring more pollution into Pakistan.
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Jan 07, 2019 06:22pm
Great development... But please be informed that this is not a binding agreement. MoU's are not legally enforceable. Let us not jump the gun like the PCB did.
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Jan 07, 2019 06:51pm
No more MoUs, loans and bailouts please. Let’s see some contracts and investment.
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Jan 07, 2019 07:54pm
@Fowez, you still need to import oil for the refinery....
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Jan 07, 2019 09:08pm
If we had an honest leadership in Pakistan in the last couple of decades, our country would not have been in such a mess. All credit goes to PTI and Imran Khan for bringing Pakistan back on track.
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Jan 07, 2019 09:10pm
while world is pushing towards alternative energy usage and production- we are pushing ourselves to hydrocarbons
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Jan 07, 2019 09:28pm
@Pakistanfirst , try to make some sense. We are underdeveloped nation.
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Jan 07, 2019 09:37pm
A great project for consumption great labour employment. This project will energise multi nation to bring more investment in Pakistan. More the investment more prosperity. PTI is moving in right direction.
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Jan 07, 2019 09:59pm
@Faraz, Surely, It doesn’t seem to make any sense why an oil producing country will transport its product from its production site to another foreign territory-in this case to refine the oil. Totally absurd, and unviable.
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Jan 07, 2019 11:49pm
@Ali, Iranian gas is for India.
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Jan 07, 2019 11:57pm
@Pakistanfirst , just tapping into what will not be replaced by alternative energy soo.
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Jan 08, 2019 02:18am
@Faraz, It can take advantage of cheaper work force.Also in the case of transportation through CPEC (export to China),no longer rout transportation.Hoever the benefits will depend ob integrity of political leadership.
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Jan 08, 2019 02:59am
@Ss, Imported crude oil is less expensive than the final product.
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Jan 08, 2019 03:07am
I hope it would be subjected to an open and transparent process
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Jan 08, 2019 05:49am
MOU does not mean a commitment, it's just a political gimmicks to hide one's inability to deliver.
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Jan 08, 2019 05:50am
would anyone give statistics on how many mous are turned into reality. we had mous from china, russia to construct nuclear power plants since musharaff era, nothing turned into reality. What about china's mou for dam construction in 2009? These mous are just for news headlines.
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Jan 08, 2019 05:51am
@Faraz, I wish something good come out of this MOU but facts don’t add up.
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Jan 08, 2019 06:29am
A piece of good news for Pakistan economy.
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Jan 08, 2019 06:55am
Reminder to myself: This is a Memorandum if Understanding, not a legal contract. I shall not sue. Saudi before ICC/WB, if the refinery does not actually happen. Lesson learnt from the past!
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Jan 08, 2019 03:23pm
This government is progressing well in Foreign affairs.
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Jan 08, 2019 06:18pm
does anyone know anything about the investment in renewable?
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Jan 08, 2019 09:57pm
Please note MOU is not an agreement. Remember BCCI?
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Jan 09, 2019 12:49am
Hope no u -turn to fight with Iran as its signing big deals with India as America tighten its sanctions on her.As trump wants to meet our PM &close ally of Saudi&UAE &Bhairan .Our policies should be very balanced in this regard.
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Jan 09, 2019 02:17am
We have seen such 100s of MoU in past. On ground things are different.
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Jan 09, 2019 07:34am
Pakistan is rising.
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Jan 09, 2019 08:54am
@Umair Karim, Do you not realize that this deal was on the table and being developed before this government came in. Think about it, big deals for refineries take a long time to finalize and the ground work was done under the last administration because it encouraged investor confidence.
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Jan 09, 2019 10:06am
india should mind their own business if they don't want to come on talking table.
pakistan are a free country to strengthen relations with any nations of the world
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Jan 09, 2019 10:09am
@Danish, Debt free from Saudi debt?
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Jan 10, 2019 12:37pm
@Umair Karim, Saudi Arabia is coming to sell oil in Pakistan. Yes, this will create jobs, but what about exports from Pakistan, which will bring foreign exchange. Pakistan severely need foreign exchange to pay for oil and other debts. Unless exports situation is improved real gains will not come out. As of now nothing done to improve exports.
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Jan 25, 2019 06:43pm
@Faraz, Just wait & see !
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