FM Bilawal says Pakistan not ‘pursuing or receiving’ discounted Russian oil

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said Thursday that Pakistan is "not pursuing or receiving" Russian oil at a discounted price, but added that his country was “exploring” various options.

Earlier this month, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that Russia had agreed to provide crude oil at discounted prices, a development that could potentially bring down the energy import cost for Pakistan.

Speaking at a press conference, he stated that Russia will supply petrol and diesel to Pakistan at the maximum possible discount.

Expensive fuel is one of Pakistan's top issues with a cash-strapped economy hard-pressed to finance its growing energy needs.

Speaking about the potential import of liquified natural gas (LNG), Malik said stocks with Russian firms are low because countries, which pledged to go green, purchased the fuel at costly prices.

“We approached a few private Russian firms for LNG but the government urged us to ink deals for 2025-26,” he said.

In an interview with journalist Amna Nawaz on PBS Newshour, the PPP chairman said: “As far as Russia is concerned, we aren’t pursuing or receiving any discounted energy, but we are facing an extremely difficult economic situation, inflation, pump prices.”

Bilawal said that while Pakistan has a long history of economic relations with China, the country "also has a historical relationship with the United States that stretches back to the 1950s. And we have partnered over the course of history, and I believe, whenever the United States and Pakistan have worked together, we have achieved great things. And whenever there’s been a distance developed between us, then we have faltered. So I do think it’s absolutely possible for the United – for Pakistan to engage with both China and the U.S.”

“We are exploring various avenues to expand the areas where we can get our energy from. Any energy that we receive from Russia will take a long time for us to develop.”

In the interview, Bilawal also ruled out the possibility of early elections.

He said that Pakistan’s democratic achievement over the last decade was that it had one Parliament after the other complete its five-year term.

“We had a government from 2007 to 2013. That Parliament completed its term and peacefully transferred power to the next Parliament, and that Parliament completed its term and transferred the power to this Parliament.”