Business

Second Russian crude oil cargo arrives at Karachi port

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Vessel is carrying 55,000 tonnes of oil.
Cargo was to arrive on June 20 earlier.
Lack of storage at PRL caused delay.

KARACHI: A second cargo of discounted 55,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil arrived at the Karachi port Tuesday.

As soon as the berthing plan of the ship is finalised, it will be docked at the oil pier. The ‘Clyde Noble’ vessel carrying Urals oil was in the Arabian Sea and en route to the port of Karachi, as per prior reports via sources.

“The vessel is expected to arrive at Karachi Port by Tuesday,” an insider from the oil industry had earlier told The News.

It was reported that the second cargo, under the deal between Islamabad and Moscow, was slated to arrive on June 20; however, it was delayed by a week and scheduled to dock today.

A lack of space in the Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) storage tanks was cited as the reason behind the delay. PRL is the first domestic refinery to obtain crude oil from Russia under the government-led deal.

Pakistan received its first cargo of Russian crude oil on June 12 when a tanker carrying 45,000 tonnes of crude oil docked at the Karachi port.

The government had placed the first order of 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil in April this year after months-long parleys between the two countries over the terms and conditions of the deal.

Under this deal, Russia sent the first oil tanker carrying 100,000 metric tonnes of crude, which arrived at the Omani port early this month. However, the authorities decided that it would be transported to Pakistan through smaller ships as the Pakistani port could not accommodate heavy ships carrying more than 50,000 tonnes of oil cargo.

It is worth noting that the vessel, which was loaded with Ural crude on April 21 at a Russian port, was delayed for 10 days due to technical reasons.

“It then arrived at Egypt’s Suez Canal on May 17, where it waited in a long queue for 12 days to cross the canal.”

Pakistan imports 70% of its crude oil, which is refined by PRL, National Refinery Limited, Pak Arab Refinery Limited, and Byco Petroleum. The remaining 30% is locally produced and refined by Attock Refinery Limited, a domestic entity.

Oil industry insiders said that the PRL was currently in the process of refining the Russian crude to produce the much-needed petroleum products. They informed that Russian crude oil was being blended with Arabian crude, which arrived a few days back following a PRL order for the necessary oil.

Business

SFD and Pakistan Sign Two Deals Totaling $1.61BLN

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

Two agreements totaling $1.61 billion have been inked by Pakistan and the Saudi Fund for Development to improve their bilateral economic cooperation.

Business

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign an MOU to strengthen their auditing industry collaboration.

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

A spokesperson for the office of the Auditor-General of Pakistan (AGP) announced on Monday that the two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in public sector auditing through improved cooperation between audit institutions of both countries, as well as training programs and the exchange of trainers.

This comes as a group from Saudi Arabia’s General Court of Audit (GCA), headed by GCA President Dr. Hussam bin Abdulmohsen Alangari, arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for a four-day visit.

The agreement was signed during AGP Muhammad Ajmal Gondal’s meeting with the Saudi delegates, aiming to strengthen audit cooperation, enhance knowledge-sharing, and improve governance, transparency and accountability in government spending.

Public relations officer Muhammad Raza Irfan of the AGP’s office told Arab News that the deal will further advance bilateral collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in addition to enhancing professional ties between the two nations’ auditing institutions.

In a statement released from his office, AGP Gondal was cited as saying, “This collaboration marks a significant step toward fostering international cooperation in auditing.”

“The exchange of ideas and methodologies will undoubtedly strengthen our capacity to meet emerging challenges and set new benchmarks for public accountability.”

Discussions at Monday’s meeting focused on fostering closer ties between the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, sharing innovative audit methodologies, and planning collaborative initiatives for the future, according to the AGP office.

The two parties decided to increase their knowledge of theme, environmental, and impact audits as well as to exchange best practices in audit standards, performance audits, and citizen participation audits.

The statement added, “It also agreed to exchange trainers, address new auditing challenges, plan cooperative audits, including a performance audit on the oil and gas sector in 2025, and work together on training programs.”

Both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to promoting transparency, accountability and excellence in public sector auditing.

Business

The government chooses to continue the PIA privatization process.

Published

1 day ago

Farwa

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization process will be restarted by the federal government, and expressions of interest would be requested within the month. Officials stated that the Prime Minister’s Committee on Privatization will convene to make the final decision.

Usman Bajwa, the secretary of the Privatization Commission, gave a briefing on the updated procedure to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatization. Additionally, he disclosed that airlines other than PIA are now able to compete with regional carriers thanks to IMF-approved aircraft tax concessions.

Farooq Sattar, the chairman of the privatization committee, underlined the importance of giving PIA workers at least five years of job security. Employee protection will continue to be a top priority and will be resolved prior to bidding, the Privatization Commission promised.

PIA’s liabilities totaling Rs650 billion have already been assumed by the government, and an additional Rs45 billion in outstanding debts must be paid before the privatization process can begin. As of the now, PIA has assets around Rs155 billion and liabilities worth Rs200 billion. It will be necessary for the new buyer to expand the fleet by 15 to 20 aircraft.

Additionally, the Privatization Committee has sought a timeline for the privatization of Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Islamabad Electric Supply Companies. Officials stated that after the appointment of a financial advisor, the privatization process for these companies will accelerate.