Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan has not signed any agreement to purchase crude oil from Russia, State Minister for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik confirmed on Wednesday.
He made these remarks while addressing the journalists in Islamabad.
During the last purchase, Malik said the government had decided to procure oil through a public sector company.
“We intended to provide oil to refineries at international market prices through a subsidy mechanism, but this plan was not fully implemented,” Malik said.
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He added that after the first cargo, no further oil was requested from Russia by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PRL).
“We currently have a surplus of LNG, so we are not importing any new cargo,” the minister explained.
He further said that the ministry was working on a mechanism to deregulate prices of petroleum products.
Once the framework is approved by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the public will hugely benefit from reduced oil prices, he added.
The minister further revealed that Pakistan had deferred five LNG cargos from Qatar and negotiations were underway to avoid importing five additional cargos from Qatar next year.
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Malik’s explanation comes hours after the PRL denied entering an agreement with Russia for oil procurement.
In a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), PRL rejected the recent news reports suggesting that it had agreed to import Russian crude oil at discounted rates.
“We remain committed to transparency and will keep our stakeholders informed of any developments directly through our official channels,” it added.
