Islamabad May 24 2023: Pakistan is likely to get Russian only in next two to three days according to Pakistan Minister of State for Petroleum.
"The crude oil ship from Russia is arriving in Oman on May 27-28. This crude oil will reach Pakistan through small ships from Oman. One hundred thousand tons of oil is being brought from the ship" says Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik.
In response to a question, he said that I do not think that the IMF will object the cheap petrol package for the poor.
Pakistan is planning to blend newly purchased Russian crude with Arabian light crude in order to create a mixture that will be more easily processed by the nation's oil refineries, told to Reuters previous month.
The country is planning to purchase Russian crude oil at a discount as high prices caused by geopolitical tensions have caused fuel prices to more than double in Pakistan. Western countries that have imposed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil as part of sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine say that the cap is also forcing Russia to sell oil to developing countries at lower prices.
Under the deal with Russia, Pakistan will buy only crude oil, not refined fuels, with Islamabad targeting imports of up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the first transaction goes through smoothly.
Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine the Russian crude in a trial run, followed by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and other refineries later.
Pakistan, a long-standing Western ally, imported 154,000 bpd of oil in 2022, broadly flat from the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed. Most was supplied by the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates.
If Russian crude supplies were to reach 100,000 bpd, it would potentially mean a big drop for Middle Eastern suppliers to Pakistan.
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