During Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing in June, the governments of China and Pakistan are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the crude-to-petrochemical refinery project, reported The News on Friday.

A senior official of the Ministry of Energy apprised The News that Pakistan and China are likely to sign an MoU on the refinery project during PM Shehbaz’s visit.

“Pakistan State Oil, Sinopec, a Chinese company, and Saudi Aramco may agree to carry out the joint study to assess whether the crude-to-petrochemical refinery will be economical and beneficial for the said three stakeholders or not. The joint study’s results will pave the way for investment in the proposed project. Once the joint study is over, then the size and capacity of the project will be decided,” the official said.

The ministry officer said the national authorities were in contact with China's Sinopec for the refinery project. Saudi Aramco is waiting for results of the joint study for a final decision for investment as it is inclined towards the petrochemical refinery instead of the green refinery.

“After that (study) Sinopec and Saudi Aramco will decide if they should be a part of petrochemical refinery or not,” the official said.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also wants the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to be awarded to Sinopec and to this effect, the Pakistan State Oil, nominated by the Pakistani government, is in touch with the Bank of China and Sinopec.

Sinopec is also providing services to Saudi Arabia on rigs, well-service, geophysical exploration, pipelines, roads and bridges and other EPC projects. Sinopec has been serving Aramco, SWCC, RC, and many Saudi local cities, and has earned a good reputation among clients, as well as Saudi people.

The under-consideration proposal is that a crude-petrochemical refinery be built with 70% capacity to refine petroleum products and 30% capacity to produce chemical products.