PM asks ministry to speed up work on Khalifa Refinery

Country can export surplus oil products produced by the refinery.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has directed the Ministry of Petroleum to finalise the plan for the proposed Khalifa Coastal Refinery near Gwadar, which will be established with the assistance of United Arab Emirates.

He also asked the ministry to submit the proposed plan for establishing a power plant in Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) at Kot Addu, Muzaffargarh.

The directives were issued during a meeting with Petroleum Secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry and Parco Director Nawab Hasan Ali at the Prime Minister’s House on Thursday.

Gilani asked the petroleum ministry to speed up work on the two projects for attracting foreign investment into the country. According to the Parco director, the refinery project is expected to attract foreign investment of $6 billion and can export surplus petroleum products after meeting domestic demand.

Discussing the spreading petrol shortage, Gilani underlined the need for taking immediate measures to ensure smooth supply of oil to all parts of the country. He said Attock Oil Refinery should remove the technical fault immediately, which has caused shortage of fuel in Punjab and Sindh.

The prime minister, while stressing that exploration of energy resources is the government’s top priority, said the country should enhance domestic production of oil and gas to overcome difficulties and accelerate the pace of development.





Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2011.