First Shipment of Crude Oil from Russia Expected Next Month

Pakistan is set to receive the first oil cargo from Russia by the end of April, a move that could pave the way for a much bigger deal. According to a report in Express Tribune, the cargo does not signal the start of oil imports from Russia but is being treated as a test case as Russia has asked Pakistan to import a single cargo first to bridge the trust deficit between both sides. According to details, the Russian side has doubts over Pakistan’s seriousness to conclude the deal that could see Russia become the second-largest crude oil supplier to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia. The request to import a single cargo first was made by the Russian side during a recent meeting. Moreover, Russia has also agreed to receive payment in Russian rubble, Chinese yen and UAE dirham against the supplies of oil to Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention here that back in January, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that Pakistan and Russia have agreed on late March as the timeline for the crude oil deal. The minister has also repeatedly claimed that Russia has agreed to provide crude oil and petroleum products to Pakistan at discounted rates. However, till now there has been no word on the discount on offer for Pakistan. The joint statement of the 8th Session of the Pakistan-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, also said that Pakistan and Russia have mutually agreed to finalize the transaction structure for trade in the oil and gas sector by March 2023.