Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in talks for Greenfield project

Saudi Arabia is strengthening its strategic partnership with Pakistan through discussions on upgrading refineries and launching a greenfield refinery project for petroleum products, according to Musadik Malik, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Petroleum. Speaking at the World Investment Conference in Riyadh, Malik explained that the cooperation goes beyond energy, with an agreement to connect the power grids of both nations.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have agreed to work on the following two major projects: refineries upgrade and constructing a large greenfield refinery, which would produce hydrocarbons and petroleum products. Malik said these remain to be researched and negotiated upon.

This collaboration is not just for the sake of investment but is rather a joint attempt at working towards Pakistan’s future energy needs, particularly renewable energy. The purpose is to proactively plan for long-term energy requirements of Pakistan and ensure energy security for the country.

This partnership is an enormous role player in this engagement, as several agreements already are seeing fruit. The memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have already summed up to a total worth of $2.8 billion, some of which are already contracted. A recent non-disclosure agreement can open up doors for investment worth $1.8 billion.

Moreover, the two countries have agreed to an MOU for their power grids’ connection. This will facilitate energy trade between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan without any kind of hurdle. This plan is also in line with regional plans because Pakistan also wants similar grid connections with Central Asian states to mitigate seasonal variations in energy demand.

Malik said that Saudi Arabia has always stood by Pakistan in both good and challenging times and described the Kingdom as a true ally.