ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said on Monday that Russia has agreed to provide crude oil to Pakistan at discounted prices. The deal if materialized, could potentially bring down the energy import cost to a great extent for Pakistan.
Speaking at a news conference, Pakistan’s State Minister Musadik Malik stated that Russia will supply petrol and diesel to Pakistan at maximum possible discount.
“Currently, LNG stocks with Russian firms are low because countries, that pledged to go green, purchased the fuel at costly prices,” he said. “We approached a few private Russian firms for LNG but the government urged us to ink deals for 2025-26” he said.
Russian Oil and Petrol to Resolve Pakistan’s Energy Woes
Acting in the best interest of Pakistan, the government approached Russia to resolve fuel woes, he said. “We will solve the energy problem of Pakistan,” he said.
He stated for 1% increase in the growth rate of Pakistan, the country’s energy needs rise by 1-1.5%.
“For 5-6% growth rate, our energy needs will grow by 9-10%,” he said.
The development comes after a delegation from Pakistan, led by Malik, left for Russia on November 28 to negotiate a potential oil deal with Moscow.
US Cannot Stop Pakistan from Striking Oil Deal with Russia
Last month, Pakistan’s Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said that he met US officials during his visit to the United States in October, and discussed the issue of purchasing petroleum products from Russia.
The Finance Minister said that he had told the US authorities that Washington could not stop Islamabad from purchasing petroleum products from Russia because neighbouring India is also purchasing oil from Russia at discounted rates.
According to the central bank of Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country imported petroleum products worth $7.547 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
