Pakistan receives first shipment of Russian LPG
Islamabad, Sep 27 (EFE).- Pakistan has received its first shipment of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from Russia, a spokesperson from the Russian embassy said Wednesday.
The shipment is Islamabad’s second major Russian energy purchase after it received its first-ever delivery of crude oil in June with the second in the same month.
“Russia has delivered 100,000 metric tons of LPG to Pakistan through Iran’s Sarakhs Special Economic Zone,” the Russian embassy spokesperson told EFE.
The spokesperson said that consultations on a second shipment were underway, without disclosing any more details.
Pakistan had said earlier that it paid for the Russian crude oil in Chinese currency because of international sanctions on Russia over its war with Ukraine but the value of the deal was never disclosed by either country.
The LPG deal comes after Russia’s energy minister Nikolay Shulginov met with then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to Pakistan in January.
During the meeting, the officials discussed the possibility of Moscow supplying oil and gas to the South Asian nation, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“Both sides agreed on the importance of (the) energy sector for the development of bilateral economic and trade relations,” the statement added.
Pakistan had initially set a target of importing 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of discounted crude oil from Russia, less than the 154,000 bpd it imported in 2022.
“In this regard views were exchanged on supplying oil and gas from Russia to Pakistan on a long term basis,” the statement said.
However, the country decided to put further crude oil imports from Russia on hold due to increased shipping costs and a drop in quality of the refined oil as compared to fuels produced with crude oil from Pakistan’s main suppliers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Fuel shipments make up the bulk of Pakistan’s import bill, forcing it to look for cheaper international markets.
The country is facing an economic crisis with an acute balance of payments problem and rising inflation. EFE
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