Pakistan will get crude oil from Russia at a discount, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif claims in Parliament

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given a big statement. He said on Thursday that everything has been finalized for Pakistan to receive the consignment of discounted Russian oil. Shehbaz Sharif in Pakistan’s Parliament said that as we speak, Russian oil is being loaded to reach here.

Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik told news agency Reuters last week that Pakistan had made the first purchase of low-cost Russian crude. The concessional purchase will provide much-needed relief to cash-strapped Pakistan. Pakistan’s central bank has very little foreign exchange reserves left and will hardly last for a month. Energy imports are covered by most of its external payments.

According to Petroleum Minister Mussaddek Malik, “The deal will buy Pakistan only crude oil. At the same time, with Islamabad, there will be a target of reaching 100,000 barrels per day (BPD) of imports. If the first transaction goes smoothly.”

Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine Russian crude in a trial run. After this, Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and other refineries will also be involved in this work.

However, Russia is yet to comment on the deal. Data from analytics firm Kepler shows long-time Western ally Pakistan will import 154,000 BPD of oil in 2022. This is equal to last year. Most were supplied by Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, followed by the United Arab Emirates.

Explain that Russia is no longer able to supply oil to its traditional European buyers due to Western sanctions after the Ukraine war. So it is exporting oil to Asia, Africa and other Latin American countries. India and China have become the biggest buyers of Russian oil since the Ukraine war, The Independent reported. Both countries are buying about 1.9 million barrels of oil daily. It accounts for 90 percent of oil exports.