Officials say Pakistani oil refineries only have capacity to process 30 percent Russian crude oil

The file photo posted on September 20, 2021 shows Cnergyico Pakistan Limited's oil refining complex in Hub, Balochistan. (Cnergyico Pk Limited/Facebook)
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Updated 29 July 2022
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Officials say Pakistani oil refineries only have capacity to process 30 percent Russian crude oil

  • Experts estimate energy imports from Russia could save Pakistan about $3 billion yearly
  • Refinery officials say Pakistan’s plans to import oil from Russia will not disrupt Gulf imports

KARACHI: Officials at refineries in Pakistan have said given “technical and operational constraints,” the South Asia country can only process up to 30 percent of Russian varieties of crude oil, as Pakistan explores cheaper import options and experts warn a deal with Moscow could become a new source of friction between Pakistan and the United States.

Pakistan’s energy ministry last month sought recommendations from industrial experts and major local refineries on importing crude oil from Russia, asking for input on the technical suitability of crude grades, quantity and transportation of freight in comparison with imports from the Middle East. The government specifically sought advice on “payment methodology” in case of crude oil import and “existing commitment to upliftment from the Arab Gulf region with respect to term contracts.”

Pakistan’s energy and power ministers did not respond to repeated Arab News queries about the government’s plans following responses by refineries to the energy ministry’s letter.

But several Pakistani oil refinery officials interviewed by Arab News said they had informed the government in their replies the main problem with a deal with Moscow was that only up to 30 percent of Russian crude could be processed at local refineries, given their current configuration.

“The current configuration of plants supports up to 30 percent of Russian oil refining due to technical and operational constraints,” a top official at a local refinery, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

“But the real problem is how the payments would be made under present circumstances and how their LCs [letters of credit] would be processed as Russian banking channels are closed for international payments.”

A number of Pakistani refineries said they had informed the government they could only process certain grades of Russian crude, including Sokol, Sakhalin Light and Eastern Siberian Pacific Ocean (ESPO).

“Byco has responded to the government and we have said that Byco can refine Russian oil but there are limitations,” said Mohammad Wasi Khan, chairman of the Cnergyico petroleum refining company, formerly known as Byco.

Officials at petroleum refineries also said they had apprised the government of supply constraints as some coastlines were located far away and it would take about 16 to 22 days to deliver oil to Karachi.

On the other hand, Pakistani financial analysts estimate energy imports, including crude oil and refined products from Russia, could save Pakistan about $3 billion a year.

“Russians can also provide petrol, diesel, crude oil, and liquefied natural gas [LNG],” said Samiullah Tariq, director of research at the Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company. “Assuming it’s at a 25 percent discount from prevailing market rates, Pakistan can save more than $3 billion annually,” he added.

Pakistan’s oil imports during 11 months of the last fiscal year, from July 2021 until May 2022, rose by 99 percent to $19.7 billion, including $10 billion imports of refined products and $4.7 billion worth of crude.

As Pakistan evaluates the costs and benefits of Russian oil imports, experts said since Pakistan had no pre-existing contract to buy oil from Russia, it would be hard to expect exemptions from international sanctions.

“It is very unlikely that a new contract by Pakistan will get such exemption,” Husain Haqqani, a scholar at the Hudson Institute in the US, told Arab News. “It will not be easy for Pakistan to pay for the oil, to get insurance for tankers that ship it, and to handle the consequences of violating sanctions.”

“The United States and western Europe will not be happy if Pakistan violates sanctions and starts buying oil from Russia in the midst of Ukraine war,” he added. “Given that US-Pakistan relations are already strained, this would be a new source of tension, which is completely avoidable.”

Analysts and refinery officials also said despite Pakistan’s plans to import oil from Russia, it would continue to secure its petroleum imports from Gulf countries.

Refinery officials said they would fulfill long-term contracts made with the Gulf region’s oil producers and assured that the supply from the region would not be disturbed.

“Three refineries have long-term contracts with Gulf oil producers and as the refineries have confirmed they can refine only 30 percent Russian oil, it means the rest of the volume will come from the Gulf region,” the refinery official, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Some experts also believe Pakistan may be in a position to gradually import Russian oil despite pressure from Washington.

“In order to secure its energy [needs], Pakistan can buy cheap Russian oil, and despite American pressure, Islamabad can continue importing oil from Russia to some extent, but I think Islamabad will eventually be able to import cheap Russian oil,” Dr. Umud Shokri, a Washington-based senior foreign policy adviser and energy strategist, told Arab News.

“Despite pressure from the US, India has continued to buy cheap oil from Russia, while China’s oil imports from Russia have also increased due to the energy crisis and the increase in oil prices,” he said. “Energy consuming countries such as Pakistan want to diversify their energy sources and buy oil and gas. The Russian embargo has caused countries to increase the import of cheap Russian oil.”

The option of crude imports from Russia came into the limelight after now ousted premier Imran Khan, who arrived in Russia in February the day it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said Moscow was willing to offer oil at cheaper rates to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, who is in the new cabinet of PM Shehbaz Sharif, has rubbished Khan’s claims and said Islamabad would be willing to buy oil at cheaper rates from Russia only if Moscow made the offer and Islamabad didn’t have to face sanctions on the deal.


200,000 Afghans left Pakistan since deportation drive renewed in April

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200,000 Afghans left Pakistan since deportation drive renewed in April

  • Pakistan has launched strict campaign to evict over 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits canceled
  • In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan since expulsion drive was first launched in November 2023

ISLAMABAD: More than 200,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the government renewed a deportation drive in April, Islamabad’s interior ministry told AFP.

Pakistan has launched a strict campaign to evict more than 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits canceled, including some who were born in Pakistan or lived there for decades.

According to the ministry, more than 135,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, while the number dropped to 67,000 in May and more than 3,000 were sent back in the first two days of June.

Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021.

A campaign to evict them began in 2023, prompting hundreds of thousands to cross the border in the span of a few days, fearing harassment or arrest.

In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration on Tuesday voiced concern over a surge in Afghan families being deported from Iran, recording 15,675 crossing in May, a more than two-fold increase from the previous month.

The influx across both borders threatens to strain Afghanistan’s already “fragile reception and reintegration systems,” IOM said in a statement.

Islamabad has labelled Afghans “terrorists and criminals,” but analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions.

Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade.

Pakistan’s security forces are under enormous pressure along the border with Afghanistan, battling a growing insurgency by ethnic nationalists in Balochistan in the southwest, and the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the northwest.

The government frequently accuses Afghan nationals of taking part in attacks and blames Kabul for allowing militants to take refuge on its soil, a charge Taliban leaders deny.

Some Pakistanis have grown weary of hosting a large Afghan population as security and economic woes deepen, and the deportation campaign has widespread support.

Pakistan is now threatening to lift the protection granted to the 1.3 million Afghans holding refugee cards issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at the end of June.


Pakistan blockchain chief meets US counterpart amid digital assets adoption push

Updated 11 min 26 sec ago
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Pakistan blockchain chief meets US counterpart amid digital assets adoption push

  • Bilal Bin Saqib meets the director of Trump’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets in Washington
  • He says Pakistan is building a real framework for digital asset adoption and economic modernization

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top blockchain policymaker on Wednesday expressed the country’s ambition to become the Global South’s leader in digital assets during a meeting with his American counterpart at the White House in Washington.

Bilal Bin Saqib, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Crypto & Blockchain and CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, met with Robert ‘Bo’ Hines, Executive Director of the US President’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.

The meeting marked a deepening of bilateral engagement on cryptocurrency strategy and blockchain integration between the two countries.

In March, Pakistan established the Pakistan Crypto Council to help guide national policy on blockchain, digital currencies, and crypto-related investments. The move followed the government’s announcement of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas — making Pakistan one of the first Asian countries to integrate Bitcoin into its sovereign asset strategy.

“I envision Pakistan to be a leader in the Global South for digital assets,” Saqib said according to a statement circulated after the meeting. “From launching our Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to unlocking national infrastructure for crypto mining and AI data zones, Pakistan is building a real framework for digital asset adoption and economic modernization.”

During the meeting, both officials discussed aligning national strategies on decentralized technologies, fostering regulatory coherence and building innovation ecosystems to promote youth engagement and financial inclusion.

Bo Hines, appointed in January by President Donald Trump, heads US policy development on digital assets and works alongside Council Chair David Sacks to position the United States as a global leader in the sector.

Saqib also held a separate meeting with officials from the White House Counsel’s Office to discuss legal frameworks around blockchain governance.

Pakistan’s broader digital asset strategy includes allocating 2,000 megawatts of surplus power to support Bitcoin mining and AI-driven data zones, aiming to turn untapped energy into economic productivity, job creation and digital infrastructure growth.

As regulatory frameworks continue to evolve globally, Pakistan says it is taking proactive steps to integrate private sector innovation with state policy and international partnerships, positioning itself as a key player in the next phase of the global digital economy.
 


Pakistan says 14 militants killed in northwest as PM Sharif vows to root out extremist violence

Updated 04 June 2025
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Pakistan says 14 militants killed in northwest as PM Sharif vows to root out extremist violence

  • Security forces killed the militants in an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan district
  • The prime minister applauds the security forces for their ‘professional excellence’ after the operation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces killed 14 militants this week in the country’s volatile northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged to completely eradicate militancy from the country.

The operation comes amid a noticeable uptick in militant attacks in Pakistan, particularly in the border regions near Afghanistan.

In recent weeks, Pakistani officials have increasingly blamed India for backing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed umbrella group of militant factions responsible for a majority of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Islamabad refers to the TTP as Fitna Al-Khawarij, a term rooted in Islamic history that denotes an extremist sect that rebelled against legitimate authority and declared other Muslims as apostates. It also describes the group as an Indian proxy.

“On 2-3 June 2025, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the security forces in general area Datta Khel, North Waziristan District, on reported presence of Khawarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna Al-Khawarij,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

“During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the Indian-sponsored Khawarij location, and after an intense exchange of fire, fourteen Indian-sponsored Khawarij were sent to hell,” it added.

The ISPR said “sanitization operations” were ongoing to clear the area of any remaining militants, reaffirming the military’s commitment to “wipe out the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country.”

Prime Minister Sharif also praised the security forces for their “professional excellence” in the North Waziristan operation, saying such efforts were critical to eliminating the threat posed by what he called enemies of humanity.

“We will crush the nefarious designs of these terrorists,” Sharif said in a statement issued by his office. “With the professional capability of our security forces, we will uproot the monster of terrorism once and for all.”

He said the government and the armed forces were fully committed to ensuring the complete elimination of militant violence from Pakistan.
 


Soaring prices put damper on Eid Al-Adha sales at Asia’s largest cattle market in Karachi

Updated 04 June 2025
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Soaring prices put damper on Eid Al-Adha sales at Asia’s largest cattle market in Karachi

  • Prices of small animals have risen by $72, big animals by as much as $251.80, market spokesman says
  • Analysts say Pakistan’s increasing meat exports have constrained supply, driven cattle prices up this year

KARACHI: The Eid Al-Adha festival should be the busiest time of the year at Asia’s largest cattle market in Karachi’s Sohrab Goth area. But soaring prices have driven away many of the people who would usually buy cows and goats to sacrifice on the Muslim holiday.

One of Islam’s two main festivals, Eid Al-Adha marks the climax of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, when Muslims slaughter animals to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son on God’s command, often distributing meat to the poor.

But this year, people like Nasir Khan, 25, say higher prices mean they cannot afford to carry out the important ritual.

“I can’t afford it this time,” Khan told Arab News, saying he had opted out of a seven-member group he had been a part of for years, which pooled money to buy sacrificial animals as a collective activity. 

This year, the price of an average-sized cow or bull at the Sohrab Goth market had risen by around 94 percent to Rs330,000 [$1,201], said Abdul Jabbar, another buyer who did not disclose his age or profession and had decided against buying once he discovered the steep prices. 

On a hot afternoon earlier this month, Jabbar strolled through the Karachi market as hundreds of cattle sat idle under makeshift tents. 

“The price trend is very high, almost double from last year,” he said.

“The animal we had bought at Rs 170,000 ($611.51) last year is now up for sale at as much as Rs330,000 ($1,187.05).”

“MEAT EXPORTS”

Inflation in Pakistan peaked as high as 38 percent in May 2023. In May 2025, it rose to 3.5 percent, following a significant drop to 0.3 percent in April. But while food and fuel prices have somewhat decreased, financial experts say the prices of sacrificial animals have gone up, mainly due to increasing meat exports. 

In the fiscal year 2023-24, Pakistan’s meat exports reached a record $512 million, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. This growth was driven by a 24 percent increase in export volume, reaching 123,515 tones. 

While the majority of Pakistan’s meat production is consumed domestically, the country has seen significant growth in exports, particularly to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and China.

Increasing meat exports reduces the number of cattle available domestically and during Eid Al-Adha season, when demand is seasonal and peaks sharply, supply becomes constrained. 

“Price hike is due to meat exports and inflation in previous years,” Ahsan Mehanti, chief executive officer at Arif Habib Commodities Limited, explained. 

“We have seen that there is a major increase in the export of livestock in the past three years, around more than 50 percent.”

Zaki Abro, a spokesperson for the Sohrab Goth cattle market, attributed the surge in prices to the availability of fewer animals due to thousands being killed in recent floods.

In 2022, Pakistan experienced devastating floods that resulted in the loss of over 1.1 million livestock. This figure includes approximately 500,000 livestock in Balochistan, over 428,000 in Sindh, and over 205,100 in Punjab provinces. 

“On average the prices of small animals have risen by as much as Rs20,000 [$71.94] while the big animals have gone pricier by Rs 70,000 [$251.80],” Abro said. 

“MARKET IS DULL”

The effects of high prices were visible at the Karachi cattle market last week, with few buyers present despite it being spread over an area of around 1,200 acres and 175,000 cattle up for sale. 

Livestock merchants Muhammad Ismail and Obaidullah confirmed a drop in the number of buyers.

“We have a lot of animals still unsold,” Ismail, 26, said. “This could be maybe because of inflation.”

The traders blamed the high rates they were charging on the higher rates they had to pay wholesalers and the cattle market’s administration. The cost of animal feed had also sky-rocketed, they said. Global supply chain disruptions, local market volatility, inflation, and currency devaluation have all contributed to this rise. 

The cost of fodder had surged by nearly 50 percent, impacting cattle farming, merchants said. 

“Our eight to nine months farming cost for each of these animals this year increased to Rs250,000 [$899.28] from Rs150,000 [$539.57] a year ago,” Ismail explained. 

Trader Obaidullah said sellers also had to pay a fee of Rs30,000 [$107.91] per animal to the cattle market authorities. 

“Last year the market performed well,” Ismail added. 

“All of our animals had sold out. More than half of the market had emptied by this time last year. This year the market is dull.”


PM Sharif pledges to preserve peace in Pakistan’s restive northwestern province ‘at all costs’

Updated 04 June 2025
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PM Sharif pledges to preserve peace in Pakistan’s restive northwestern province ‘at all costs’

  • The prime minister addresses a jirga in Peshawar, praising the sacrifices of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s people in the fight against militancy
  • He says a committee has been formed to address the province’s financial concerns, with its first meeting scheduled for August

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday vowed to preserve peace in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province “at all costs,” praising the sacrifices of its people and calling for unity against what he described as Indian-backed militant threats.

Sharif made the remarks during a visit to Peshawar, where he addressed a Grand Jirga of tribal elders alongside the country’s army chief and top federal ministers. The visit took place amid a resurgence in militant attacks in the region bordering Afghanistan and growing concern over cross-border threats.

“The sacrifices rendered by the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are indelibly inscribed in the annals of our national history,” the prime minister said during his address. “The entire nation salutes your courage, resolve and unwavering commitment.”

He urged tribal elders to stand firm against what he called the “Indian-sponsored Fitna-ul-Khawarij,” a term used by Pakistani authorities for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who they believe are ideologically extremist and backed by foreign actors.

“Peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shall be preserved at all costs,” he said. “The Pakistan Army, in unison with all security institutions and the valiant people of the province, stands firmly united against the Fitna-ul-Khawarij and its foreign abettors.”

Sharif also called for improved bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan and said Afghan soil must not be used by Indian proxies to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan.

During the jirga, Sharif also addressed financial concerns raised by provincial authorities regarding development funding. He confirmed that a committee had already been formed to review the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, a constitutional mechanism for the distribution of financial resources between the federal government and provinces.

“The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had raised the matter of revisiting the NFC around six weeks ago in Islamabad,” Sharif said. “We immediately formed a committee and provincial nominees have been finalized. The first meeting will be held in August.”

Sharif also praised the youth of the province, calling them a vital national asset and encouraging them to contribute to peace and national cohesion.