Pakistan, Saudi Arabia agree to form JWG on Gwadar oil refinery

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) for setting up $11 billion oil refinery and petrochemical complex at the Gwadar Port.

According to a statement put out by the Petroleum Division, the agreement was reached during a meeting between Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Saudi Minister for Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al Falih.

At the meeting, they discussed implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between the two countries for setting up the refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan.

Both the sides agreed to establish a JWG to exchange information that is critical for carrying out feasibility studies of the project expeditiously.

Ghulam Sarwar Khan thanked Saudi Minister Al Falih for showing keen interest to invest in the country’s petroleum sector. He said billions of dollars worth of investment in different sectors by Saudi Arabia would bring a new era of development and prosperity in Pakistan.

He said the establishment of the refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan would help cut down annual oil import bill by $1.2 billion and added the recent agreements with Saudi Arabia in various fields would also instill confidence in foreign investors in business-friendly policies of Pakistan.

The Saudi minister said the kingdom would look into other mutually beneficial investment opportunities in the energy sector.