Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ghulam Sarwar Khan while talking informally to the media revealed that Saudi Arab is expected to invest around $10 Billion in the establishment of an oil refinery in Baluchistan. This will be a deep conversion oil refinery with an estimated capacity of from 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of oil per day; however, a feasibility study will be carried out to determine the real size of and investment in the proposed oil refinery. The MoU for the refinery is expected to be signed at the end of February on the arrival of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Recently a Saudi delegation headed by Saudi Minister for Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid bin Abdulaziz D Al-Falih visited gawadar to observe the proposed site for the oil refinery. One site is 80 kilometres while the other is 30 kilometres away from Gwadar.
Around 85% of Pakistan’s petroleum consumption of 22 million mt/year is currently being met via imports. Since 2015, an increasing share of Pakistan’s gas consumption is also being met via LNG imports, which are set to hit nearly 16 million mt/year by 2024, according to experts of the field.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves are depleting fast because of heavy external debt, driven by a chronic trade deficit, which hit an all-time high of $37 billion in fiscal year 2017-2018.
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