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Business

Pakistan refineries sign long-awaited $6bn upgrade agreements

Four Pakistani oil refineries have signed plant-upgrade agreements with Inter State Gas Systems, unlocking around $6 billion in investment over five years and ending a seven-year wait to modernise the country's ageing refining sector.

By James Calloway · · 1 min read

Four of Pakistan’s five oil refineries have signed long-awaited plant-upgrade agreements with the government-nominated Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS), unlocking an estimated $6 billion in investment over the next five years.

Attock Refinery, National Refinery, Pakistan Refinery and Cnergyico Pk inked the agreements on Thursday, 24 September, in Islamabad, with the Pak Arab Refinery (Parco) expected to sign soon, The Express Tribune reported. The deals fall under the Brownfield Petroleum Refining Policy 2026 and commit the refineries to produce cleaner Euro-V fuels, substantially reduce furnace-oil output and replace significant quantities of imported petroleum products.

Attock Refinery chief executive Adil Khattak called it “arguably the largest coordinated industrial investment programme ever undertaken in Pakistan”, noting the journey began with a first policy draft in December 2019 and approval in August 2023 — almost seven years to reach implementation. Industry estimates put the annual foreign-exchange saving from upgraded refineries at about $1.5 billion.

Cnergyico Pk chief executive Amir Abbassciy said the company’s project would proceed in three phases: a shift to Euro-V-compliant fuels, a reduction in fuel-oil output, and an expansion of refining capacity. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik led the government’s push to clear the policy’s remaining bottlenecks, the paper said.

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