Web desk
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan and current Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s rhetoric to import Russian oil contradict the situation on the ground. The Pakistani oil sector has already made several failed attempts to import oil from Russia.
A third-party oil supplier had offered the Pakistani Refinery Limited (PRL) an opportunity to import oil at discounted rates.
Despite making concerted efforts, the Pakistani side failed to materialise the plan due to the US sanctions imposed against Russian companies.
Sources say that following the war in Ukraine, the US and its allied European countries went into a tussle with Russia, even payments to third-party suppliers of oil from Russia became choked.
Suppliers are required to provide details of the country of origin regarding imported products and the products of Russian origin are not accepted by banks.
Sources revealed that PRL had made efforts to import oil from Russia but failed due to the implications brought on by the Ukraine crisis.
When Trifigura, a third-party supplier, offered to supply PRL with Russian oil at discounted rates, PRL had approached Pakistani banks including Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). However, both banks refused to open letters of credit (LCs) when they saw that the crude oil was of Russian origin.
Officials said that HBL and NBP had already paid a penalty in the United States and were, therefore, were not willing to open the requisite LCs. These banks informed PRL that the route of payment is through dollars and consequently, they would not be able process the LC.
Despite there being no explicit directions from the Pakistani government regarding the import of oil or other products from Russia, PRL faced problems.
Sources say that the same case applies to the shipping industry. Shippers are not ready to carry supplies from Russia. They are to receive payments in dollars from suppliers and therefore, due to the threat of US sanctions, they are not ready to take supplies from Russia.
