The government is reportedly in the advanced stages of negotiations with Saudi giant Aramco to execute the greenfield refinery project at the strategic Gwadar Port . The project envisions setting up an integrated refinery petrochemical complex with a crude oil processing capacity of a minimum bpd .
The four SOEs would join the project through equity participation . Despite being integral to the growth of the economy no new refinery project has materialised in Pakistan for more than a decade and only two refineries have been added in the last years .
This is mainly due to the decreasing furnace oil demand in the country as a result of a change in the energy mix in the power sector and the fixed production slate of refineries that cannot produce just petrol and highspeed diesel and all products are produced simultaneously .
To facilitate the Saudi investment the government has recently passed a new policy under which a new deep conversion oil refinery shall be eligible for a new oil refinery of a distance of about five years shall be exempt from levy of customs duties surcharges and duties on import of any equipment to be installed or material to be used in the refinery projects without any precondition for obtaining certification by the Engineering Development Board .
The said refinery shall also be entitled to exemption from levies and duties upon arrival of the project within five years. The said refiner shall also enjoy a year tax holiday. The refinery shall include a new refinery. The new refiner will also be eligible to be a new refinery of a range of the refinery.
It will be eligible. The refiner. would also be exempt. The government has also be exempted from a distance from the refinery . The refinery. would be eligible . The new refinery would be entitled. of a new refined oil refinery’s .
