Dr. Musadik Malik, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Petroleum, has announced Pakistan plans to place its first order for Russian crude oil next month, which marks an important milestone in their bilateral relations.
The minister disclosed in an interview with a private news channel that Moscow agreed to offer Islamabad a discount similar to those offered to neighboring countries, which has been deemed a welcome gesture.
Dr. Malik reiterated that Pakistan is not an oil-producing nation and must therefore buy oil on the world market when discussing the country’s rising petrol prices. Islamabad consequently has no influence over oil prices, he continued.
Despite having good relations with Tehran, he continued, Pakistan cannot import oil from Iran because doing so could result in sanctions being placed on the country.
The minister also addressed the disparate petrol prices in the nation for the wealthy and the poor, stating that the current administration’s stance is to support the latter. The ministry has been strictly instructed to “divide Pakistan for the rich and the poor” by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, he continued.
Dr. Malik went on to say that the population would be split into two groups based on how much gas they used, with the poor using less gas from November to March. He claimed that the petroleum subsidy followed the same distinction.
The minister and the secretary of petroleum travelled to Russia in November of last year to talk about matters such as the supply of petrol and oil. A Russian delegation also visited Pakistan at the start of this year to look over the petrol pipeline project and talk about discounted petroleum products from Russia.
According to reports, however, Moscow has been dissatisfied with Pakistan’s slow progress, which has prevented Pakistan from carrying out its plan to import crude oil from Russia.
According to sources, Russia had already voiced scepticism regarding Pakistan’s plan to import crude oil from that country and had requested that Pakistan import one crude oil cargo first to demonstrate how serious it was.
Dr. Malik hopes that the shipment of Russian crude oil will arrive in Pakistan in about 26–27 days from the time the order was placed, allowing Pakistan to further develop its relationships of trust and understanding with Russia.
