The outgoing Pakistani ambassador to Abu Dhabi has explained that the initial cost estimates for a joint oil refinery project look set to increase substantially as the project is expanded.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) and hosted in the Emirate, ambassador Ahsan Ullah Khan revealed that the planned Khalifa Coastal Refinery, to be located close to the city of Karachi, will now contain a major petrochemical city as well as a port and a power generation plant.

This will mean that the figure of $5 billion originally put forward by the partners behind the project, namely Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and Pakistan's state-owned producer, will be easily surpassed.

Ambassador Khan told the event: "The additional features of the Khalifa Coastal Refinery being built at Hub near Karachi, by IPIC and Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco), will swell substantially as project will now include a petrochemical city where downstream industry will be established which will use feed stock from the refinery as raw material."

It is anticipated that the refinery will produce 200,000 barrels of diesel per day, on top of additional petroleum products, with IPIC to hold a 76 per cent stake in the operations.

5th Global Education & Training event for Oil and Gas: Exploration & Production