Saudi Arabia agrees to invest in Pakistani oil refinery: report

Saudi Arabia has “agreed in principle” to invest in a new oil refinery in Pakistan’s deep-water port of Gwadar, Pakistan, Reuters reported Thursday, citing Pakistani petroleum minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

Saudi Aramco will partner with state-owned Pakistan State Oil on the project, Khan told reporters.

Details of the refinery's costs and capacity are to be worked out later, upon the finalizing of a formal memorandum of understanding approved by Pakistan's cabinet on Thursday, he said.

A Saudi delegation visiting Pakistan went to Gwadar on Tuesday, he added, noting that the delegation “showed an interest to immediately invest in the refinery.”

"We sat down and held initial discussions with them and it was principally decided by both sides that it will be a government-to-government agreement,” Khan said.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood said Saudi Arabia had proposed setting up a multibillion-dollar oil refinery in Gwadar, according to an Arab News report.