ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik rubbished claims by his colleague, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, and reiterated that Russia will in fact give Pakistan oil at discounted rates.
At a press conference in Islamabad, the minister of state for petroleum said that they are working on a framework of an agreement with Azerbaijan regarding gas, and they are trying to get one LNG cargo in January.
Compared to last year, there will be one additional cargo each in January and February, he said.
FM Bilawal, in an interview with PBS NewsHour, had said that Pakistan is not “pursuing or receiving” any discounted energy from Russia, just a few days after his cabinet colleague Malik had claimed that Pakistan is seeking oil at discounted rates from the energy-rich country.
On December 5, Malik, after visiting Moscow, had claimed that Russia agreed to provide crude oil as well as petrol and diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates.
But Malik insisted in the press conference today that Russian officials had said they would give cheap crude oil, diesel and petrol to Pakistan and that Russia would only give the same kind of concessions that it gives the rest of the world.
He said after Pakistan receives discounted oil from Russia, it will help lower energy prices.
“When the energy cost goes down, the cost of transport and manufacturing will go down … consequently, the price of every item in a shop will go down. This is the prime minister’s vision,” he said.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more detail.
