ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik on Friday reiterated that the South Asian country would purchase discounted crude oil from Russia, days after the country's foreign minister denied "pursuing" Russian energy imports.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told American broadcaster PBS this week that Pakistan was not "pursuing or receiving" any discounted energy from Russia, adding that any energy from Russia would take a long time to develop.
But Malik said Pakistan was trying to purchase both crude oil and finished petroleum products from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as Russia.
"We are trying for an agreement with the Emirates under which we will bring finished products," the minister said at a press conference.
"We will purchase discounted crude oil from Russia as well as refined products on whatever international discounts would be there or even better than those."
He told reporters that all these proposals would be finalized and presented before them in the coming days.
In response to Bhutto-Zardari's statement, Malik said it was not wrong as Pakistan was not buying oil from Russia at the moment.
To end this confusion, he said, the petroleum ministry would take the foreign ministry on board and provide it all details pertaining to local refineries and their capabilities.
"Perhaps our ministry needs to do more and take the foreign ministry on board," Malik said. "And we will send these details to the foreign ministry so that there remains no ambiguity in it."
The state minister said that Moscow had also agreed to provide the quality of crude that could be used to the maximum in Pakistan.
Malik last week announced that Russia had decided to provide crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan on discounted rates.
He said detailed terms and conditions for the purchase of commodities would be finalized during the Russian energy minister's visit to Islamabad by mid-January.
