Russia will provide crude oil at discounted price, Musadik refutes Bilawal’s claim

Minister of State for Petroleum Division Musadik Malik on Friday refuted the Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s claim and confirmed that Russia had agreed to provide crude oil as well as petrol and diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates.

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Musadik Malik said Pakistan has discussed to buy crude oil at discounted price from Russian companies.

Earlier a day, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, in an interview with PBS NewsHour, denied reports that Pakistan is “pursuing or receiving” any discounted energy from Russia, saying that the country does have energy insecurity and it is exploring various avenues to expand areas to get energy.

Bilawal said: “We are facing an extremely difficult economic situation, inflation, pump prices. We do have energy insecurity and we are exploring various avenues to expand the areas where we can get energy from. Any energy we receive from Russia will take a long time for us to develop.” 

The Minister of State said that the Prime Minister’s prime objective is to reduce production cost, transport cost and storage cost and it will be made possible after buying crude oil at discounted price.

Talking about the acquisition of LNG, Musadik said that an agreement is about to be concluded with Azerbaijan, which will also provide gas to Pakistan at a cheaper price.

Musadik Malik informed that an Inter-Governmental Commission visit has been proposed in the second week of January 2023, which will be headed by the Russia Minister of Petroleum.

Referring to Bilawal’s statement, the state minister said: “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that we are not buying crude oil from Russia at this time and it is 100% correct that we are not buying oil at this time.”