Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Government Holdings Private Limited, together as State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), finalised definitive agreements with respect to participation in the reconstituted Reko Diq project, OGDC informed the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in a filing on Monday.

The oil exploratory company said it has “approved the execution of the definitive agreements and has also authorized the issuance of notices to convene an extraordinary general meeting for purposes of seeking approval of the shareholders of the company….. for an investment in an associated company for the acquisition of 8.33% interest in the project and subsequent capital investments as may be required and/or feasible”.

OGDC added that the parties are aiming to satisfy the conditions at the earliest.

Back in March, OGDCL and PPL entered into a non-binding framework agreement with the federal government, GHPL and Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick), for the restart of Reko Diq project.

The announcement came after the government of Pakistan and the provincial government of Balochistan signed a new agreement with Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada for the extraction of gold and copper reserves from Reko Diq, one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world, with an investment of $10 billion.

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As per the terms of the new agreement, the Reko Diq project would be revived and developed by Barrick Gold in partnership with Pakistani entities. The new project will be owned 50% by Barrick Gold and the remaining 50% shareholding will be owned by Pakistan, divided equally between federal government and the provincial government of Balochistan.

It is envisaged that the project will be built in two phases at an initial estimated capital cost of approximately $7 billion and is expected to go into production between 2027 and 2028.