Russia delivers first batch of LPG to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Russia has delivered the first batch of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the amount of 100,000 metric tonnes to Pakistan.

On its official X handle, the Russian Embassy stated that the delivery was made through Iran’s Sarakhs Special Economic Zone.

Russia has delivered the first batch of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the amount of 100 thousand metric tons to Pakistan through Iran's Sarakhs Special Economic Zone. Consultations on the second shipment are underway
🇷🇺🤝🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/AZJwf5f9I5

— RusEmbassy_Pakistan (@RusEmbPakistan) September 26, 2023

The embassy said consultations on a second shipment were under way. It did not provide details on Iran’s involvement, and it was not immediately clear how much the LPG cost or if it was discounted.

Pakistan has said it had paid for the Russian crude in Chinese currency but the value of the deal was never disclosed.

Energy imports make up the majority of Pakistan’s external payments and discounted imports from Russia offer a respite as Islamabad faces an economic crisis with an acute balance of payments problem, risking a default on its external debt.

According to media reports independent Russian oil refiner Forteinvest clinched a deal that will see Russian gasoline sent to Pakistan by land for the first time, as Russian refiners seek alternative markets for motor fuels days before an EU import ban.

Forteinvest has sold to a trader an initial 1,000-tonne lot of gasoline from its Orsk plant for delivery to Pakistan and has more requests to supply gasoline, diesel and LPG to the country, the sources added.

The refined products will be shipped from the Orsk refinery in Russia’s Orenburg region near the Kazakhstan border to Afghanistan by rail and reloaded into tank trucks for delivery to Pakistan, as Russia and Pakistan don’t have direct rail connections, the sources said.

In June, the first cargo of discounted Russian crude oil arranged under a new deal between Islamabad and Moscow had arrived in Karachi.