By our correspondent
KARACHI: The Indus Refinery Limited (IRL), a joint venture between Middle East-based investors and local sponsors, on Saturday signed a contract with Descon Engineering which will provide civil works for IRL’s 100,000 barrels per day petroleum refinery located on the National Highway near Port Qasim.
Under the scope of the contract, Descon will provide all personnel, equipment, and services to complete the IRL’s earth works, grading, paving, underground piping, underground electrical trenches, tank dikes, concrete foundations and slabs.
The contract is expected to take 20 months to complete and is scheduled to allow for ongoing mechanical re-erection and electrical and instrumentation work.
Chief Executive Officer IRL Peter J. Hamill said, “it is a landmark occasion for IRL and a significant development in the oil and gas sector of Pakistan.”
IRL has also engaged world class engineering firm SNC Lavalin to act as project manager, Ventech Engineers International as process engineer, and advisory firms Jacobs Consultancy and Vitol to ensure a successful project.
During construction the refinery will provide thousands of jobs for Pakistanis and when completed in early 2009 it will provide over six hundred permanent skilled jobs.
IRL as a Pakistani Public Limited Company has taken the initiative to relocate, reconstruct and operate a refinery to become the sixth petroleum refinery in Pakistan, enabling it to be one of the top two largest refineries in the country. The IRL refinery has a design capacity of 100,000 BPCD or 93,000 BPSD, which is equal to the country’s current largest refinery.
“The refinery is being constructed to produce maximum yields of profitable products. The products produced will meet the deficit requirements of Pakistan, with any surplus to be exported. Thus the country will save on foreign exchange in terms of import substitution and it will also earn from the export of surplus products,” said, M. Sohail Shamsi, Chairman IRL.
He further stated, “By the end of 2009 this mega project would produce 30,000 barrels more, which will further strengthen the company’s position in the sector.”