KARACHI: A second cargo of discounted 55,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil reached at the Karachi port Tuesday.
Pakistan received its first cargo from Moscow with 45,000 tones of crude oil docked at the Karachi port on June 12.
Soon after finalizing the berthing plan of the ship, the tanker would be docked at the oil pier. The ‘Clyde Noble’ vessel carrying Urals oil is at the port of Karachi.
Earlier the second cargo, as per the deal between Islamabad and Moscow, was scheduled to arrive on June 20, however, it was delayed by 7 days and schedule to dock today possibly due to the issue of space in the Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) storage tanks. PRL is the first refinery in Pakistan to obtain non refined oil from Moscow under the Pak-Russia deal.
The government had managed to place the first order of 100,000 tones of Russian crude oil in April this year after months-long engagement between the two sides over the terms and conditions of the deal. Russia sent the first oil tanker having 100,000 metric tones of crude, which arrived at the Omani port early this month. However, it was decided to transport the oil to Pakistan through smaller ships as Karachi port could not accommodate heavy ships carrying more than 50,000 tones of oil cargo.
Imports of Crude Oil
Pakistan imports about 70% of its crude oil from different countries being refined by PRL, Pak Arab Refinery Limited, National Refinery Limited and Byco Petroleum. The remaining 30% is produced locally and refined by a domestic entity Attock Refinery Limited.
Inside sources informed that the PRL was currently in the process of refining the Russian crude to produce the much-needed petroleum products.
According to independent experts, the only challenge with Russian oil was a large amount of furnace oil (about 50 percent) after refining as compared to oil from other countries with about 25 percent of furnace oil. However, authorities claimed they were working to minimize the proportion.
