Facing a deep economic crisis, Pakistan has started to buy Russian oil, but the country\u2019s petroleum minister says the future lies in diversified, especially green, energy.
\nMinister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik was visiting the United States for talks with corporations as well as with the government, which has led global efforts to choke off Russia\u2019s oil exports that help fund its invasion of Ukraine.
\nMalik confirmed that a first order was placed for Russian oil and would arrive within a month in Pakistan, which will then assess how much to import in the future.
\n\u201cBased upon the results, we\u2019ll move forward and see for what part of our portfolio we can use Russian energy,\u201d he told AFP.
\nAsked if Pakistan will pursue more Russian imports, he said, \u201cIf today we get cheaper sources of energy, we\u2019ll go there.\u201d
\nA little drop
\nPakistan, the world\u2019s fifth most populous country, faces chronic energy shortages and imports 84 per cent of its petroleum products, overwhelmingly from Gulf Arab allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
\nMalik said Pakistan had been fully transparent and that its initial dealings with Moscow were far less than those of other countries \u2014 notably China and Pakistan\u2019s rival neighbour India, whose enthusiastic buying of Russian oil has cast a shadow over New Delhi\u2019s warming relationship with Washington.
\n\u201cWe have not faced any problems, either with the United States or with any other country,\u201d Malik said.
\n\u201cA whole lot of countries are legitimately getting energy from Russia,\u201d he said. Pakistan\u2019s share \u201cis a little drop, but it helps.\u201d
\nRussian oil exports in March jumped to their highest level since the Ukraine invasion more than a year earlier despite European cuts in purchases, according to the International Energy Agency, as China and developing countries buy at a discount.
\nBut revenue to Russia was still significantly lower, with the Group of Seven industrial democracies trying to enforce a cap of $60 per barrel.
\nA State Department spokesperson said the United States understood \u201cthe pressure governments face to secure affordable fuel,\u201d while saying that Russia has shown that it is \u201cnot a reliable supplier of energy.\u201d
\n\u201cWe hope countries are able to leverage the oil price cap to purchase Russian oil at a lower price,\u201d the spokesperson said.
\nSeeking green boostMichael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said he believed there was a broad consensus in Washington that \u201cthis is an opportunistic situation where Pakistan is desperate for cheap oil\u201d and substantively different from India\u2019s historic relationship with Russia.
\n\u201cMy sense is that Islamabad is in such a difficult state that it\u2019s not going to risk antagonizing the United States, given Washington\u2019s influence over key international financial institutions that are important to Pakistan right now,\u201d Kugelman said.
\nPakistan, fearing the collapse of its economy, has been seeking a new tranche of a bailout from the International Monetary Fund which has demanded lasting reforms including subsidy cuts, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif taking the unpopular step of raising fuel prices.
\nMalik said he spoke with US companies about buying shale liquified natural gas, upgrading Pakistani refineries and storage facilities, exploring offshore oil and gas and starting horizontal drilling, a method the country does not yet use.
\nBut Malik said his talks with the United States will also seek support for green energy in line with Pakistan\u2019s goal of generating 30 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2030, including a plan for widespread solar power on rooftops.
\nPakistan is one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change, with floods last year submerging one-third of the country. A 2020 World Bank study said Pakistan could meet all electricity demand at the time by devoting just 0.071 per cent of its land to solar power.
\nGeoffrey Pyatt, the assistant secretary of state for energy resources, promised US backing for renewable goals on a March visit to Pakistan.
\n\u201cStrategically, it\u2019s very clear to us that the future of energy security is in green energy,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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