Pakistan is moving closer to ink oil and gas deal with Russia as part of its policy of not supporting bloc politics. Pakistan is set to send a powerful delegation to Russia in the coming days to discuss long-term cooperation in energy sector.
Pakistan is moving closer to ink oil and gas deal with Russia as part of its policy of not supporting bloc politics. Pakistan is set to send a powerful delegation to Russia in the coming days to discuss long-term cooperation in energy sector. This week, the National Assembly was told that a high-power delegation will soon visit Russia to negotiate possibility of long-term cooperation to acquire gas and oil in order to address the increasing energy crisis. Gas deal with Russia is significant for Pakistan’s Economy.
Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum Division said that Russia has not offered to supply gas to Pakistan yet but the government of Pakistan had written a letter to Russian authorities on October 11, conveying interest to the Russian side to procure two to three cargoes of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) for the month of December 2022 and January next year at a discounted price and deferred payment facility. Russia did not immediately agree to the short notice.
Officials said the Pakistani government has formally contacted authorities in Russia to buy cheap oil and gas as prices of these commodities in the South Asian country has surged to a record level. The development comes a month after Federal Finance Minister said that that the government was considering an option to import oil from Russia. “If India can buy oil from Russia, why can’t we. We can also import it,” Federal Finance Minister had said. After Prime Minister met Russian President on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand in September, reports had also emerged that Moscow had expressed readiness to supply petrol to Pakistan on deferred payments.
Pakistan’s economy, already in turmoil with a rising current account deficit, more than 20 percent inflation and a massive rupee depreciation, has been further weakened by the floods, whose economic impact is estimated at more than $30 billion. Pakistan has already approved a deal worth nearly $112 million to import 300,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia to meet its domestic shortfall.
Pakistan had set a goal of producing 27 million tonnes of wheat domestically in 2022-23. But due to a number of reasons, including water scarcity and the redevelopment of agricultural land, scientists predicted the harvests would be slashed by 15 percent. The severe flooding wreaked havoc in southern parts of the country and destroyed large areas of farmland in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
A United States government report on agriculture forecast that Pakistan’s wheat production would drop by eight million tonnes because of the flooding. Last week, Pakistan and Russia signed a road transport agreement to pave way for promoting commercial and public relations between two countries. The agreement was signed between Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services and his Russian Transport Minister at a meeting in Islamabad.
Originally published at The Nation