KARACHI, Pakistan

Four leading Pakistani oil companies will join hands with Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco for a $10 billion greenfield refinery project at Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Pakistani and the Saudi companies in the capital Islamabad on Thursday, said a statement from the Ministry of Petroleum.

The Pakistani state-owned entities, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Pakistan State Oil, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL), will collaborate with Aramco through a "joint investment strategy," the statement said, without providing further details.

The project envisions setting up an integrated refinery petrochemical complex with a crude oil processing capacity of a minimum of 300,000 barrels per day (BPD) along with a petrochemical facility in Pakistan, it added.

"The project will have significant foreign investment from world-class oil & gas giants through equity participation," the statement further said.

Pakistan’s Minister for Petroleum Masadik Malik shared details of the project and "its benefits to the national economy by way of economic growth, foreign exchange savings, energy security, employment opportunities, and social upliftment."

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia inked a deal to establish an oil refinery in Pakistan’s southwestern strategic port city of Gwadar, a key route of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to Islamabad in 2019.

According to experts, Saudi Arabia is mostly exporting its oil through its western ports on the Red Sea. Gwadar Port will give the kingdom another option.