Russia to provide petrol, diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates: minister

State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik announced on Monday that Russia has decided to provide crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan at discounted rates. The decision comes a month after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the country is considering buying discounted Russian oil, pointing out that neighbour India has been purchasing oil from Moscow and Islamabad also has a right to explore the possibility. Subsequently, Malik flew to Russia last week for talks on issues including oil and gas supplies. Pakistan struggles to meet domestic gas supply needs as winter approaches while battling to contain a current account deficit swelled by energy payments, mostly for oil. In a press conference in Islamabad today, Malik said: “Our visit to Russia turned out to be more productive than expected.”