The plant will take five to six years to be fully commissioned and will process 250,000 to 300,000 barrels a day
The masterplan for an oil city in Gwadar, including a $10 billion Aramco oil refinery project, is underway and expected to be ready by the end of 2021, according to officials. The city will cover an area of 88,000 acres of land in the Gwadar District. This will be the largest project of its kind in Pakistan. It will mostly refine and process petroleum products imported from the Gulf States.
Director-General of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) Shahzeb Khan Kakar said that the masterplan will be completed within six to seven months for the facility. “The planning for the mega oil city which will host an Aramco refinery and petrochemical complex is in progress, and we will take six to seven months to complete the masterplan,”, Kakar said in a media interview.
The ARAMCO facility will take five to six years before it is fully commissioned. It will be ready with an estimated cost of $10 billion and will have the capacity of handling 250,000-300,000 barrels per day. The project will have a $1 billion petrochemical complex that will help Pakistan’s petrochemical industry by producing polyethylene and polypropylene.
“Though the federal government is directly dealing with the Saudis, we will invite them after the planning is completed,” Kakar said, adding: “The oil city is equally big as Gwadar. We have made the masterplan of Gwadar as a smart city with an area of 88,000 acres, keeping in view requirements up to 2050.”
GDA also expects the industrial zones to be operational by 2023. This will help the local population find means of earning and help boost exports as well. GDA estimates that by 2050, the per capita income of Gwadar should reach US $15,000.
The oil city should help the local economy in a big way and significantly contribute at the national level as well. It is even more crucial that other companies, from all fields of work, step forward and invest in Gwadar and other parts of the country as it will help the economy boom.