News : Work resumes on $5bn refinery in Balochistan

REPORTED BY JUMA BALOCH


RIYADH: The Abu Dhabi/Pakistan joint venture partners on the Baluchistanrefinery have returned to work on the $5 billion project after it wastemporarily put on hold in January 2009, the reliable Middle East EconomicDigest (MEED) reported.A source close to the project told MEED that the project, in which Abu Dhabi'sInternational Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) holds a 74 per cent stake andPakistan-Arab Refinery Company the other 36 per cent, is `back on track' butthat there is no certainty that progress will be sustained due to issues inPakistan.Once complete, the plant will have capacity of 200,000-300,000 barrels a day. Atleast three companies submitted bids in early October to Ipic for the front-endengineering and design (FEED) contract on the project, including Veco, Stone &Webster, and Australia's WorleyParsons.The joint venture has yet to award a contract with any of these firms. The jointventure is unsure when a winning bidder will be announced.Earlier in January Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic)said it will delay or postpone an investment plan for the construction of arefinery in insurgency-hit Balochistan province of Pakistan, one of its megaprojects widely publicized, citing `procedural anomaly.' The project wasannounced several years ago with its inauguration set for 2007, but has beendelayed for various technical reasons.While announcing the delay, the Ipic Managing Director Khadem Al Qubaisi thenhad told the press: `Unfortunately what happened was that many actions that camefrom Pakistan really disappointed us as shareholders. Because of that we arelittle bit delaying or postponing this project until we sort out major andfundamental issues.' However, at least some of the things appear to have beensorted out in the meantime.The $5 billion refinery with 250,000 barrels per day capacity was originallyplanned for Balochistan's port town of Gwadar. However, apparently due topolitical reasons, the project was later moved to Hub.