The Prime Minister asked the Secretary Petroleum to instruct the Attock Oil Refinery to remove the technical fault urgently. The fault had ultimately caused shortage of gasoline supply to some areas of Punjab and Sindh. The Prime Minister gave these instructions during a meeting with the Secretary Petroleum and Nawab Hasan Ali, Director PARCO at the PM House here.

Gilani directed the Ministry of Petroleum to submit the proposed plan for establishment of power project in PARCO Refinery at Kot Adu, Muzaffargarh.

He also directed to finalize a plan for the proposed Khalifa Costal Refinery; a joint venture with UAE. He advised the Ministry to undertake the projects on fast-track and ordered immediate preparation to attract this biggest foreign direct investment.

The Prime Minister said exploration and development of energy resources was his government's top priority. He said it was extremely important to enhance production of oil and gas from domestic resources to bring out the country out of difficulties and accelerate pace of development.

He discussed the possibilities of establishment of refinery project close to Gwadar. He also discussed various issues relating to PARCO and exploration of new oil and gas fields.

The Secretary Petroleum and Director PARCO briefed the Prime Minister about the proposed Khalifa Costal Refinery project.

The Director PARCO stated that this project has a potential to attract US $ 6 billion foreign direct investment in the country. The project also has a big potential to export surplus petroleum production after meeting the country demands, he said.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011