Pakistan gets first Russian crude oil under discount deal
The first shipment of Russian crude oil to energy-starved and dollar-strapped Pakistan was due to be unloaded at Karachi port on Monday, Premier Shehbaz Sharif said.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine previous year, economic sanctions have seen a significant cut in its oil and gas exports to the European Union and the United States.
However Pakistan, in the midst of an economic downturn worsening a long-running energy shortage, in May confirmed it had struck a deal with Moscow to buy petroleum products.
'This is the first-ever Russian oil cargo to Pakistan and the beginning of a new relationship between Pakistan and Russian Federation,' Prime Minister Sharif said on Twitter late Sunday.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is preparing for general elections later this year, said the first shipment of 'discounted crude oil cargo' arrived in the southern city of Karachi on Sunday and was set to be unloaded on Monday.
Local media reported the cargo of 100,000 metric tons of oil left Russia a month ago and was split across two smaller ships in Oman before sailing to Karachi.
Pakistan - the world's fifth most populous country - is currently on the brink of default with runaway inflation, the rupee tumbling and shrinking dollar reserves hobbling imports.
Meanwhile, negotiations to unlock the next tranche of a 6.5 billion US dollar loan package agreed with the International Monetary Fund have been stalled for months.
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