UAE to invest $5bn in refinery project in Pakistan by end of 2019

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ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will invest $5 billion in an oil refinery project in Pakistan by the end of 2019, Arab News reported on Friday.

In an interview with the publication, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi said: “We are going to launch very soon one of the biggest investments in a refinery project in Hub, Balochistan. It is going to be a $5 billion investment between Mubadala Petroleum Company of Abu Dhabi, Pak Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and OMV [OMV Pakistan Exploration Gesellschaft].”

The original plan is to set up a deep-conversion, state-of-the-art refinery that would have an output of 250,000-300,000 barrels per day.

Al-Zaabi said the project was the result of “extensive discussions” between Mubadala Petroleum and petroleum ministry along with PARCO and OMV.

“This project will show the strength of UAE-Pakistan relations and how the UAE is focusing on investment in and [the] future of Pakistan.”

“Many meetings have taken place regarding this project,” Al-Zaabi said, adding that a UAE delegation, headed by Musabbeh Al Kaabi, the chief executive officer of Mubadala Petroleum, visited Pakistan a few months ago and met with then Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Haroof Sharif and Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

“They have discussed this project in detail. We are going to launch it very soon,” he added.

A day earlier, a delegation of Egyptian investors called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed interest in investing $1 billion in the energy sector and government’s flagship project Naya Pakistan housing scheme.

On the occasion, El Sewedy Electric, Egyptian energy giant, expressed its intention of investing $500 million in Pakistan’s energy sector.

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