ECC approves Brownfield Policy upgrade agreement

Mettis Global reported that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved draft upgrade agreements for existing refineries under the Pakistan Oil Refining Policy, which was amended in August 2026. The pacts will be signed by all refineries once the Prime Minister is available later this month, and they set out a five-year framework for carrying out and monitoring the projects and related incentives. The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in Islamabad.

The committee also cleared the Prime Minister's Fuel Relief Scheme for lower-income motorists, under which two- and three-wheelers get Rs500 a week and cars up to 800cc receive Rs1,000 for ten days. Relief is limited to non-commercial users and one vehicle per owner, and the Ministry of IT & Telecom will run the Fuel Pass System that delivers it. A Rs75 billion Technical Supplementary Grant was approved to fund the scheme.

Other decisions covered an implementation framework for restructuring the ownership and management control of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), and compensation of unadjusted input sales tax claims of oil marketing companies for July 2025 to June 2026. The ECC also allowed the export of 200,000 MT of surplus sugar, with safeguards for domestic price stability. A Rs3 billion grant was cleared for 15 bullet-proof sedans for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that Pakistan will host in Islamabad in September 2027.