MoU signed: Grace Refinery to invest $5b in Kot Addu

Will set up modern refinery to reduce carbon emissions

LAHORE: The Punjab Board of Invest­ment and Trade (PBIT) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Grace Refinery, an international petrochemical company, for a $5-billion investment in Kot Addu, Punjab.

PBIT Chief Executive Officer Ameena Cheema and Grace Refinery CEO Uzma Bashir signed the MoU at the PBIT headquarters on Friday.

Cheema said the MoU was part of an ambitious venture that would have a positive impact on both the economy and local population.



Over the past few months, she disclosed, the PBIT had remained in close contact with Grace Refinery, holding several meetings and video conferences to convince the company to invest in Punjab. Subsequently, a meeting was held at the PBIT office in Lahore to strike the deal.



Under the MoU, the PBIT will act as a one-window facilitator for Grace Refinery for fast-track facilitation and necessary support in order to ensure early commissioning of the project. The board will also help the company in acquisition of necessary licences and land for entry into the market.

Speaking on the occasion, Bashir said her company was going to introduce the latest Euro-6 standard refinery in Pakistan that would reduce carbon emissions from fuels.

She said the refinery with 220,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) capacity would substitute a substantial volume of oil imports and generate around 50,000 to 70,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities in south Punjab.



She disclosed that the company was negotiating with crude oil suppliers to join hands in building an oil pipeline to Pakistan. The project would take three to five years but the company was trying to channelise investment during the rule of present government, she said.

She also appreciated efforts of the PBIT CEO in realising the investment in Punjab and expressed her confidence in the management and governance of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2016.

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