‘PML-N led govt ditched Russia oil deal talks’

LAHORE: Former energy minister Hammad Azhar on Tuesday alleged that the incumbent government has discontinued energy talks with Russia involving deal to buy crude at discounted rates as well as the PakStream pipeline agreement.

The former minister claimed that the PTI government had been “intensely engaged with Russian Energy Ministry for supply of discounted crude oil”, however, those negotiations have been halted now. “Plus, PakStream pipeline agreement was ready for signing with Russian counterparts with all paperwork done. But the new government is dragging its feet on it,” he added.

He was responding to Khurram Dastgir’s (newly appointed Federal Minister for Power) claims that there were no negotiations involving purchase of oil and gas from Russia. Dastgir termed the claims absolutely false and baseless, as there was no paper / evidence available with the quarters concerned.

Hammad claimed that PTI’s government had been in discussions with Russia in late-March to purchase LNG under a long-term agreement. However, as his government changed in April, those discussions were suspended by the new government.

“New power minister says there is no evidence of communication with Russia over purchase of discounted oil and gas. Like the story of 27 out of order power plants, this also is a lie. Imran Khan as PM chaired two meetings on the subject and we were aiming for purchasing first cargoes in April. Our ambassador in Moscow was tasked and was actively in touch with the Russian officials regarding this issue. PSO (Pakistan State Oil Company) had proposed two transaction structures,” he added.

Sharing an official letter addressing the Russian Energy Minister in this connection, he further claimed that “negotiations were underway well before this letter was sent”. Russian officials asked for this formal letter themselves to take matters to the final stage.

Azhar continued to say that when he was the energy minister, he started talks with Russia for cheap oil which would have benefitted Pakistan. “As energy minister, I had formally initiated talks with Energy Ministry of Russia for purchase of discounted oil (30 percent less than international market) and LNG. Those talks did not continue after regime change,” he insisted.

Citing a letter dated March 30, 2022, Hammed said attention of Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov was drawn to an Inter-Governmental Agreement (TGA) which was in force between the two friendly countries since 2017 on cooperation in the sphere of liquefied natural gas (LNG). He was requested that Pakistan was eager to enhance the relationship by fast-tracking the negotiations between the two nominated entities so that a long-term agreement for supply of LNG on G2G basis was agreed at the earliest. “As a start, we propose supply by Russia of two to three cargoes of LNG per month, each cargo containing 140,000 cubic meters LNG.”

In the official correspondent, it was stated that Pakistan was also keen to enter into a long-term agreement with a nominated entity of the Russian Federation for supply of crude, diesel and MoGas through state owned PSO, on G2G base, on concessional terms. The way forward would be through incorporating relevant clauses in the existing IGA related to import of petroleum products, Hammad stated.

“We would appreciate your support on the above proposals for increasing bilateral trade and passing on instructions to the nominated entities on the Russian side to establish contact and start negotiations with their Pakistani counterparts expeditiously on the above referred matters so that we may be able to conclude mutually beneficial deals on LNG and petroleum products within the month,” it read. It should be noted that on April 12, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov told a newspaper that Moscow was ready to sell oil and oil products to “friendly countries in any price range”.