Today, Tuesday, June 27 (2023), the port of Karachi received the second shipment of Russian oil to Pakistan, within the framework of the recently signed agreement between Moscow and Islamabad.
The arrival of the tanker, with a cargo of 55,000 tons (400,000 barrels) of Urals crude, came about a week late, due to insufficient space in the Pakistan Refinery Limited storage tanks.
The first shipment of Russian oil to Pakistan arrived on June 12, as crude supplies from Moscow constitute one of the Islamabad government’s plans to reduce the energy bill in light of the country’s suffering from a stifling economic crisis.
Second shipment details
Reports revealed that the ship “Clyde Noble” was carrying Urals oil in the Arabian Sea, on its way to the port of Karachi, and once the docking plan is completed, unloading of cargo will begin.
The second shipment of Russian oil to Pakistan, under the deal between Islamabad and Moscow, was scheduled to arrive on June 20, however, it was delayed by a week and is due to dock on Tuesday, Geo News reported.
The sources revealed that the lack of space in the storage tanks of the Pakistan refinery, the first domestic refinery to obtain crude oil from Russia, was the reason behind the delay.
Islamabad received its first shipment of Russian oil to Pakistan on June 12, when a tanker carrying 45,000 tons (330,000 barrels) of crude oil docked at the port of Karachi.
Pakistan placed the first order to ship 100,000 tons (730,000 barrels) of Russian crude oil in April this year, after months of negotiations between the two countries over the terms and conditions of the deal.
The Russian-Pakistani agreement
Under the agreement, Russia sent the first oil tanker carrying 100,000 tons of crude to one of the ports of the Sultanate of Oman early this month. However, the Pakistani authorities decided to transport it via smaller ships, as the port of Karachi cannot accommodate large ships carrying more than 50,000 tons of crude. oil goods.
It is worth noting that the ship, which was loaded with Urals crude on April 21 in a Russian port, was delayed for 10 days for technical reasons, as it arrived in the Suez Canal on May 17, and waited in a long line for 12 days to cross the canal.
The second shipment of Russian oil to Pakistan comes at a time when the country is in dire need to secure its fuel needs at reduced prices, and Islamabad is seeking to seize the opportunity for Russian discounts on energy supplies, in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The Pakistani Oil Minister Mossadeq Malik had confirmed in recent statements that his country paid the value of its first imports of Russian crude in Chinese currency.
Pakistan imports 70% of its oil needs from abroad, mainly from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as it has friendly and political relations, in addition to its relative geographical proximity and transportation through the Strait of Hormuz. It also imported 154 billion barrels of oil during the past year (2022), according to a report by the company. Kepler data analysis, seen by the specialized energy platform.
mixing oil
Oil industry workers said that the Pakistan Refinery Ltd. is currently working on refining Russian oil to produce much-needed oil derivatives, as Russian crude was mixed with Arab crude, which arrived a few days ago.
In previous statements, the Pakistani oil minister said: “We have repeated different mixtures of products, and refining Russian crude in any scenario will not lead to a loss,” adding: “We are sure that it will be commercially viable.”
At the end of last May, the details of the shipment were revealed, as reports said that the volume of the first Russian oil flows to Pakistan would amount to about 750,000 barrels of Urals crude.
Pakistan will receive the shipment through small shipments this June, and the two countries agreed that the Russian shipment would first arrive at a port in the Sultanate of Oman in May, then Islamabad would transport it in small shipments to the port of Qasim in Karachi during the first half of June. /June.
Although the price of the deal was not revealed, the talks between the two countries focused on Pakistan buying Russian oil at a price of $20 a barrel less than the dated Brent crude, with the possibility of payment in currencies other than the dollar.
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