Russia to provide petrol, diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates: minister

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State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik announced on Monday that Russia has decided to provide crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates.

The decision comes a month after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the country is considering buying discounted Russian oil, pointing out that neighbour India has been purchasing oil from Moscow and Islamabad also has a right to explore the possibility.

Subsequently, Malik flew to Russia last week for talks on issues including oil and gas supplies.

Pakistan struggles to meet domestic gas supply needs as winter approaches while battling to contain a current account deficit swelled by energy payments, mostly for oil.

In a press conference in Islamabad today, Malik said: “Our visit to Russia turned out to be more productive than expected.”

“Russia has decided to provide Pakistan crude at discounted rates […] this is the oil that refineries use to produce diesel and petrol […]. Russia will also give petrol and diesel to Pakistan at lower prices,” he announced.

Malik went on to say that Russia was short on liquefied natural gas (LNG) because of “international pressure”. “So they arranged a meeting of ours with some private companies, that were a part of their delegation […] our talks with them [the companies] have now begun.

“The Russian government is setting up new factories for the production of LNG and they have invited Pakistan to begin [signing] contracts for 2025 and 2026,” the minister said.