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

E&P Companies Will Invest $5 Billion in Pakistan’s Petroleum Industry

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Over the next three years, local and foreign companies involved in Pakistan’s oil and gas exploration and production sector have shown a strong desire to invest more than $5 billion in the nation’s energy sector.

Recent changes to the Petroleum Policy and the implementation of an exclusive tight gas policy, which provide better incentives and a more investor-friendly regulatory framework, are credited with the increase in investor confidence.

These strategic changes are expected to boost domestic energy production, open up new avenues for growth, and draw large amounts of both domestic and foreign investment.

Business

With inflation slowing, the SBP is anticipated to lower the policy rate for the eighth time in a row.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Businesspeople anticipate another reduction in the policy rate when the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) releases the updated rate.

The interest rate for the upcoming two months will be announced by the central bank. It is still unclear if the rate will stay the same or be lowered to reflect stakeholder expectations.

According to experts, the policy rate will be lowered in order to further boost the nation’s economic sector.

Interest rates may be lowered for the seventh time in a row if the inflation rate declines significantly more than anticipated.

In its last six sessions, the MPC had cut the policy rate by 10 percent. In January 2025, it decreased the rate by one percent to 12pc.

12PC POLICY RATE

In January, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced cut in key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps) to 12 percent from 13pc in line with expectations of the business community.

The policy rate, which had been at 22 percent since June 2024, was slashed by 1,000 basis points to 12 percent.

The SBP governor said the decision was taken with careful consideration. “Although inflation is expected to decline next month (February), core inflation remains a pressing concern,” he stated.

Ahmed highlighted strong remittance inflows and robust export growth as key factors supporting the current account.