Pakistan places first order for Russian oil

Pakistan placed the first order for the supply of oil from Russia at a discount as part of the agreements reached in January, informed Energy Minister Musadiq Masoud Malik to Reuters.

According to him, the first tanker with Russian oil should arrive in early May. If everything “goes smoothly”, then the import of raw materials will amount to 100,000 bpd, the minister stressed. Initially, the Pakistani company Refinery Limited (PRL) will process Russian oil, later other refineries will join this process.

In March, Malik saidthat the first batch of Russian oil will arrive in Pakistan in early April.

The fact that Russia has agreed with Pakistan on the supply of oil, became known in January. The corresponding agreement will be prepared by April, Nikolay Shulginov, the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, said at the time. The Pakistani side then noted that it plans to buy more than 35% of the total volume of oil imports from Russia. In 2021, Pakistan imported 8.8 million tons of oil, which means that we are talking about the supply of more than 3 million tons of Russian raw materials.

According to the Federal Customs Service for 2021 (the latest available data for 2022, the agency does not disclose), Russia supplied Pakistan with 11,600 tons of oil products per year. Oil supplies in 2020 and 2021 from Russia to Pakistan was not.

The Russian oil industry came under serious pressure after the strengthening of anti-Russian sanctions in 2022. The main buyers of Russian oil – the United States, Great Britain and the EU countries – imposed an embargo on its imports. Also, the countries of the European Union and the G7 (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan) introduced a price ceiling for Russian oil at $60 per barrel from December 5.