Chinese firm keen to set up oil refinery in Sindh

A Chinese firm, the Mingyuan Holdings Group Company Limited, has said that it is keen to set up a huge oil refinery with an investment of two billion dollars in Pakistan's Sindh province.

A Sindh Government statement said that Mingyuan Holdings Group Company Limited Chairman Ji Hong Shui and his 11-member delegation had held a meeting with Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) chairperson Naheed Memon and her team at the SBI headquarters on Friday in this regard.

The Express Tribune quoted the Sindh government handout, as saying that the refinery will have an installed capacity to process 10 million tons of crude oil annually.

Shui was quoted, as saying that refined petroleum products produced by the proposed refinery would primarily cater to the domestic market and later on be exported as well.

Memon said that the Chinese company has initially expressed an interest to acquire 400-500 acres of land in Sindh to set up the refinery, adding that it will submit a brief business model to the SBI within four days.

The Chinese firm is expected to establish the refinery around Port Qasim or in places such as Dhabeji, Gharo, Nooriabad, Thatta and Kotri.

The firm may also consider establishing the refinery in a special economic zone to acquire tax incentives, Memon added.

Pakistan is a net oil importing country. It meets 75 per cent need for oil for transport, electricity production and industrial and commercial use through import of petroleum products. The balance is met through local oil exploration where refineries play a very important role in catering to the domestic markets' needs.