Pakistan’s five oil refineries have told the government they are ready to sign upgradation agreements that the Petroleum Division says will unlock around $6 billion in investment — but the deals have not been signed yet (Express Tribune).
A Petroleum Division statement issued on Friday said the managements of all five “reaffirmed their readiness to sign agreements under the Refinery Upgradation Policy, with the agreements expected to be signed early next month.”
The five
Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), National Refinery Limited (NRL), Cnergyico and Attock Refinery Limited (ARL). Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik met each management in Karachi this week; the managing directors told him their companies had completed preparations.
The number does not decompose
The $6bn is the government’s aggregate. It is not broken down.
The only published project-by-project accounting comes from The News, reported via Geo News on 17 August: PARCO $600m for a green fuel project; PRL $1.8bn–$2bn for a bottom-of-barrel scheme that would double capacity from 50,000 to 100,000 bpd; Cnergyico $1.2bn; ARL about $600m; NRL $300m–$800m.
Those add up to $4.5bn at the low end and $5.2bn at the high end — not $6bn.
This masthead reported the $5bn planning figure earlier this month. That was the minister’s own number: on 9 August he told Arab News that “from next month, you will see investment agreements worth $5 billion being signed. Not MoUs, but actual agreements.”
The $6bn is not new either. Geo reported on 13 July that the Petroleum Division’s draft amendments were built around “nearly $6 billion” in upgrades; the two figures have run in parallel since. Either way, Friday’s $6bn is a larger claim than anything the individual refinery plans currently support. Treat it as a policy target rather than a committed sum until the agreements are public.
What it buys
Euro-V fuel — sulphur capped at 10 parts per million — produced domestically. Pakistan imports roughly 90% of its oil requirement, according to Malik (Arab News).
A Dawn explainer on the amended policy, published 28 July, sets out the production shift the five are projected to deliver: petrol up 72% to 18,400 tonnes a day from 10,700; diesel up 39% to 29,520 tonnes from 21,240; furnace oil down 63% to 5,714 tonnes from 15,417. All three ratios check out against the underlying tonnages. The policy notes the estimates rest on feasibility studies and may change once front-end engineering design is complete.
What the government gave
Per Dawn: a minimum 10% customs/regulatory duty on imported petrol and diesel for seven years from the date the amended policy is notified, and a separate 10% tariff protection — the deemed duty — on the ex-refinery price of petrol and diesel for seven years from the date each Upgrade Agreement is signed. Incremental incentives go into escrow accounts held jointly with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), with withdrawals capped at 24.5% of project cost for used equipment and 27.5% for new. Upgrade equipment gets sales tax exemption.
Tribune reports the policy was held up for weeks by a fight over the older 2023 regime’s 7.5% deemed duty, which the government proposed cutting to 5% retrospectively; refiners said the delay was the state’s, not theirs.
Geo reported the agreements would be signed simultaneously at a ceremony with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. No date has been announced, and neither the Petroleum Division nor the refineries have published a per-company breakdown that reaches $6 billion.
