Pakistan has started getting oil from Russia, but it is not getting any special discount, Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov has said, according to Russian and American media reports.
Shulginov spoke to the media at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg last week. He said that Pakistan had paid for the oil in the currency of a friendly country, but he did not say which one. He also said that Russia was ready to send more oil to Pakistan and that it did not care about India’s opinion on this matter.
“Oil deliveries to Pakistan have begun, [but] there is no special discount; for Pakistan, it is the same as for other buyers,” the minister said. “A shipment was recently shipped, and there will be more deliveries in the future,” he added.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced last week that the first “Russian discounted crude oil cargo” had arrived and offloaded at Karachi. Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said the shipment of 45,000 tons was part of the 100,000 tons purchase.
Shulginov also said that Russia and Pakistan had talked about exchanging goods for oil, but they had not decided anything yet. He also said they had yet to agree on the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which Pakistan also wants to buy from Russia.