Islamabad: The government will place its first order for Russian crude next month, according to Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik, and it will take the product about four weeks to arrive in Pakistan. Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, had previously stated that the nation was thinking about purchasing discounted Russian oil, pointing out that neighboring India had been doing so and that Islamabad also had a right to investigate the possibility. The government then declared that it would buy discounted crude oil, gasoline, and diesel from Russia after Malik had flown to Moscow for talks on topics like oil and gas supplies.
In January 2023, a Russian delegation arrived in Islamabad for talks to finalise the deal. During the three-day meeting, the countries decided to address all technical issues — insurance, transportation and payment mechanism — to sign an agreement by late March this year.
“After consensus on the technical specifications achi¬eved, the oil and gas trade transaction will be structured in a way it has a mutual economic benefit for both countries,” a joint statement issued by the two sides had then stated.
In an interview , Malik said that a number of agreements with Russia had been reached and Pakistan will place an order next month.
“However, it will take some time for the oil to reach Pakistan … nearly 26 to 27 days,” he stated, revealing that the commodity will arrive in the country via sea.
Malik also clarified that Russia had assured the government that it was giving Pakistan a discount as much as any other neighbouring country was receiving.
Talking about the government’s decision regarding separate gas tariffs for the rich and the poor, the minister said that the mechanism was devised on the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
“So we divided the country into the population of the rich and the poor … so if a poor woman is using a unit of gas she will give one-fourth of the bills that a woman in F-7 or Gulberg is paying,” he said.
Malik explained that the distinction between the rich and the poor would be determined by the usage of gas — which remains the same for the rich but reduces for the poor in winter — from November to March.
“In Pakistan, 60 per cent of the population is poor and for them, we have either reduced the gas tariff or kept it the same as was in the past.”
The same, he went on to say, was the case with the petroleum subsidy. “Under it, the rich will pay Rs300 for petrol and the poor will pay Rs200 for the commodity.”
