Pakistan’s four state-owned oil companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Aramco to build a $10 billion greenfield oil refinery at Gwadar Port in Balochistan, according to a local media report.

The four companies are Oil and Gas Development Co., Pakistan State Oil, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Government Holdings Private Limited.

The Pakistani government is in an advanced stage of negotiations with Aramco and wants to complete the initial paperwork before its tenure ends in two weeks, Dawn newspaper reported.

The project will have an integrated refinery petrochemical complex with a crude oil processing capacity of a minimum of 300,000 barrels per day. The complex will have diverse components such as marine infrastructure, petrochemical complex, storage for crude oil and pipeline connectivity.

The refinery will get a tax holiday of 20 years and will be exempt from customs duties, surcharges, withholding tax and general sales tax, etc.

Pakistan’s Minister for State Musadiq Malik was present at the MoU signing ceremony, the newspaper reported.

( Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)