Second Russian crude oil cargo arrives at Karachi port

Today the arrival of a second cargo of discounted 55,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil at the Karachi port.

The ship will dock at the oil pier as soon as the berthing plan is finalized. According to prior reports via sources, the ‘Clyde Noble freighter transporting Urals oil was in the Arabian Sea and en route to the port of Karachi.

“The vessel is expected to arrive at Karachi Port by Tuesday,” an oil sector insider previously informed a source.

The second shipment, according to the contract between Islamabad and Moscow, was supposed to arrive on June 20; however, it was delayed by a week and is now expected to dock today.

The delay was attributed to a lack of capacity in Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) storage tanks. Under the government-led agreement, PRL is the first local refinery to receive crude oil from Russia.

On June 12, a vessel carrying 45,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil docked at the Karachi port, bringing Pakistan its first delivery of Russian crude oil.

The government made the initial order for 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil in April of this year, following months of negotiations between the two countries over the terms of the transaction.

Russia dispatched the first oil tanker carrying 100,000 metric tonnes of crude under this agreement, which arrived at the Omani port earlier this month. However, because the Pakistani port could not accept huge ships carrying more than 50,000 tonnes of oil cargo, the authorities determined that it would be carried to Pakistan via smaller ships.

It should be noted that the tanker, which was loaded with Ural crude on April 21 in a Russian port, was delayed for ten days due to technical issues.

“It then arrived at Egypt’s Suez Canal on May 17, where it waited for 12 days in a long queue to cross the canal.”

PRL, National Refinery Limited, Pak Arab Refinery Limited, and Byco Petroleum refine 70% of Pakistan’s crude oil. The other 30% is manufactured and refined locally by Attock Refinery Limited, a native company.

According to oil industry sources, the PRL is now refining Russian crude to manufacture much-needed petroleum products. They stated that Russian crude oil was being blended with Arabian crude, which had arrived a few days prior following a PRL order for the required oil.

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