Islamabad April 28 2023: Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) today to consider approval of Oil Refining Policy 2023 for upgradation and establishment of new refineries.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) will be held on Friday, the 28th April, 2023 in the Prime Minister’s House, Islamabad. The Prime Minister will chair the meeting.
The agenda of Petroleum division to be reviewed by cabinet includes (1) Draft Model Production Sharing Agreement (Draft MPSA), (2) Installation of LPG Air-Mix Plant(s) by Private Sector: Tariff Setting, (3) Draft Pakistan Oil Refining Policy 2023 — for Upgradation of Existing Refineries, (4) Execution of Gas Development Schemes and Provision of New Domestic Connections and (5) Draft Pakistan Oil Refining Policy 2023 — for New/Greenfield Refineries.
In January 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih announced the project during a visit to Pakistan and said that the Arab nation was planning to set up a $10 billion oil refinery in Pakistan’s deep-water port of Gwadar. However, the plan was shelved due to financial viability issues. During the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan in February 2019, an investment package worth $20 billion was announced. As part of this package, $10 billion was to be allocated to setting up the mega oil refinery in Gwadar.
However earlier this year, “Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has directed authorities to study “augmenting” the kingdom’s investments in Pakistan to $10 billion,” reported by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“Saudi leadership was committed to invest $20 billion dollars in refinery, petrochemical complex, mining and renewable energy projects in Pakistan. But there is also tremendous scope for Saudi public and private investment in other sectors such as textiles, sports, leather goods and surgical equipment,” says few months back by Kingdom’s former ambassador to Pakistan, Dr Ali Awadh Asseri who is currently a board member at RASANAH, the premier Saudi think-tank on Iranian affairs.
Gwadar, the engine room of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is set to be the recipient of a $4.5 billion oil refinery as a Chinese firm has laid down a plan to build an oil refinery with an annual processing capacity of 8 million tons, according to the press release of the firm, the East Sea Group.
Committee will also discuss National Electricity Plan 2023-27 and Policy Guidelines for Revocation of NOCs to Captive Power Plants (CPPs) Selling Electricity to National Grid and New Connections for CPPs.
Summary related to Approval of National Energy Efficiency & Conservation (NEEC) Policy, 2022 to be presented by Science & Technology.
