'First make gas pipeline': Russia tells Pak, turns down demand for 30-40% price cut on crude oil

Islamabad: Pakistan’s demand for 30-40 per cent discount on crude oil from Russia has been turned down by the latter, who said that it could not offer anything “right now” as all volumes were committed. As per a report by The News International, a Pakistani delegation consisting of State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik, Secretary Petroleum Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood, joint secretary and officials of the Pakistan Embassy in Moscow - asked for a discount during talks in Moscow this week. The talks between the Pakistan and Russia delegation failed to reach a conclusion, but Moscow has assured to consider Islamabad’s demand. The report quoted sources saying that Russia has said it will share its decision later through diplomatic channels. What did Russia say? The paper reported sources saying that Russia has told Pakistan that it can offer crude at the price in which it is offering to its large client countries. For the unversed, all volumes of Russian crude oil are currently committed with big buyers. Russia further asked Pakistan to first honour its commitment to the flagship project of the much-touted Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) which will be constructed from Karachi to Lahore. Pakistan delegation left for Moscow on November 29 on a three-day visit for talks with the Russian authorities to get a broader understanding on possibilities of import of crude oil at a discounted price, mode of payment as well as learn about shipment cost. The report mentioned sources in industrial ministry saying that Russian crude oil can be processed in Pakistan’s refineries. Also, in the past, one of the private refineries in Pakistan had used Russian crude oil to deliver finished products. ‘US cannot stop Pakistan from purchasing Russian oil’   On November 13 this year, Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the US cannot stop Islamabad from buying Russian oil and that “it will be possible to do so soon”. Also during his visit to the US last month, Dar had a meeting with the officials of the State Department in which the matter of purchasing oil from Russia was also on agenda. Meanwhile, the US has said that it has no objections to Pakistan importing crude oil from Russia, saying Washington currently does not have sanctions in place against Russian energy exports to other nations. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.