Russian Minister says ‘no special discount for Pakistan on oil’

Russia hasn’t extended Pakistan any special discount on oil purchase, Russian energy minister has recently said. 

In an interview to the Voice of America (VOA), Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said there was no reduced pricing for Pakistan.

He said Russia had started exporting oil to Pakistan and had agreed to accept Chinese currency as payment, clarifying that the South Asian country did not receive any exclusive discounts on the purchase deal.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Sunday that the first “Russian discounted crude oil cargo” had arrived and offloaded at the port in the southern city of Karachi.

Sharif touted the shipment as “the beginning of a new relationship” between Islamabad and Moscow. His petroleum minister later revealed Pakistan had paid in yuan for the first government-to-government Russian crude oil import.

“Oil deliveries to Pakistan have begun. There is no special discount; for Pakistan, it is the same as for other buyers,” Russian state media quoted Shulginov as telling reporters on the sidelines of an international economic conference in St. Petersburg.

His remarks raised questions about official Pakistani assertions that Moscow had agreed to supply oil to Islamabad at a discounted price under a deal the two sides negotiated earlier this year.

“We agreed that the payment would be made in the currencies of friendly countries,” Shulginov said when asked for a response to Pakistani assertions that the trade is taking place in Chinese currency. He also confirmed that the issue of barter supplies was also discussed, “but no decision has been made yet.”

It is pertinent to mentio that Prime Minister Shehbaz had announced that the first “Russian discounted crude oil cargo” had arrived and had been offloaded at a port in Karachi.