ISLAMABAD: A team led by State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik left here on Monday for Russia to discuss purchase of crude oil at a discounted price, mode of payment, and shipment cost, etc. The visit is undertaken at a time when Oil futures fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday, with WTI hitting an 11-month low.
Also read: Oil prices falls 11-month low to over $2 a barrel
According to multiple media reports, Russian crude oil can be processed in Pakistan’s refineries, and in the past one private refinery had used Russian crude oil and made finished products out of it, contrary to earlier reports that Pakistan had no facility to refine the Russian product.
If agreed, the deal for the import of Russian oil at a cheap price is expected to help Pakistan save dollars and tackle skyrocketing fuel prices.
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Furthermore, the construction work on the Pak-Stream Gas Line will also come under discussion. Officials from the Ministry of Energy have been quoted as saying that “both sides would also deliberate on futuristic cooperative areas including two gas pipelines that include the much-touted Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP), to be laid from Karachi to Lahore and a trans-nations gasline from Russia via Kazakhstan to Pakistan,”
Pakistan is expected to discuss as how to import crude oil from Russia, advance on stalled negotiations about the $3 billion PSGP, and a newly-proposed trans-nations gasline from Russia via Kazakhstan to Pakistan.
