ISLAMABAD: A Rus­sian oil and gas consortium — Inter Rao and Himmash Apparat — has agreed to set up a medium-sized refinery in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Although a memorandum of understanding has al­­rea­dy been signed bet­ween the Russian firms and the KP Oil and Gas Com­pany (KPOGCL), the Russian investors have yet to seek Moscow’s approval to enter the energy market of Pakistan.

On Wednesday, a Rus­sian delegation headed by Yaroslav Gavrylendo held a meeting with KPOGCL Chief Execu­tive Officer Muhammad Raziuddin to discuss a way forward for the project.

KPOGCL is playing an active role as facilitator, de-briefing the investors on financial and technical aspects of the project.

Letters of intent have already been issued by Russian investors through their consortium to the KP government and they are keen to take this project to the next phase.

The delegation lauded the efforts of KPOGCL for facilitating new investors in the region on a fast-track basis.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2017