Minister of State (Petroleum Division) Musadik Malik said on Monday that Russia has agreed to supply crude oil as well as petrol and diesel to Pakistan at concessional rates.
Addressing a press conference after the return of the Pakistani delegation from Russia, Malik said that our visit to Russia turned out to be more fruitful than expected, adding that a Russian delegation would also visit Pakistan next month.
A Pakistani delegation comprising Pakistan’s Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik, Secretary Petroleum Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood, Joint Secretary and officials of the Petroleum Division visited Moscow to explore the possibility of buying crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia at concessional rates. I was.
Russia does not have liquefied natural gas (LNG), the country said. “Discussions are ongoing with Russian private firms to import LNG, while we have also engaged Russian state-owned LNG producers,” Malik said.
According to the Minister of State, significant progress has been made in the discussions on the pipeline projects with Moscow.
Last week, JEE News reported, citing sources, that the Pakistani delegation had asked for a 30-40 percent discount on Russian crude during talks in Moscow, but the Russians said they could not offer anything at the moment because All volumes are banned.
During talks on gas pipeline projects, Moscow asked Pakistan to first honor its commitment to the flagship Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project from Karachi to Lahore, Punjab.
In response, the Pakistani team suggested changing the model of the PSGP project. The Russian side said that the model of the project under the GTG (Government-to-Government) arrangement has already been decided, except for some provisions of the shareholding agreement, which will be finalized soon.
Talking to reporters, Malik said that the country needs one percent additional energy to meet the demand.
To a question, he said the government would ensure uninterrupted gas supply to households during cooking hours. The minister said that more gas is being supplied to the domestic sector in December 2022 than last year.
He added that the country is importing 20,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and Iran has announced an additional 2 million pounds of LPG over the next ten days.
He said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed that the country should be self-sufficient in agriculture, the chimneys of industry should always smoke because it is a sign of employment and development.
“Jobs are linked to economic growth. We have to take our GDP growth to 7 percent,” Malik said.
