The first batch of Russian LPG cargoes arrived in Pakistan via the Torkham border, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, sources at customs told Aaj News. It was delivered from Russia by train to Uzbekistan.

A convoy of 10 LPG tankers crossed into Pakistan while more were on the way, they added. This is the first batch of 110,000 tons of LPG.

The convoy of tankers was stopped at the border, a crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, for clearance. The cargo made its way to Pakistan from Afghanistan via Uzbekistan.

The development comes a couple of days after the first cargo of Russian crude oil for Pakistan reached Karachi on Sunday. The ship anchored at the Karachi port with 45,142 metric tons of crude oil.

Pakistan has been looking out for new avenues to fulfill its energy demands amid decreasing gas reserves and an increase in international oil prices.

Pakistan, the world’s 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. The energy-crunch country imported 154,000bpd of oil in 2022, broadly flat from the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

Pakistan paid for its first government-to-government import of discounted Russian crude oil in Chinese currency, said Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik on Monday.

In a press conference on Tuesday, he refused to divulge details of the commercial terms of the oil deal with Russia due to agreements signed by both sides for confidentiality.

“Pakistan has imported 100,000 tons of crude oil from Russia initially with plans to gradually increase the quantity over time as the country would meet its quarterly oil requirements through the utilisation of Russian oil,” said Malik.

He said that the government intended to ink a $10 billion contract, before the end of its tenure, so a new oil refinery could be established in Pakistan.

The minister said that Pakistan had also received a contract from Azerbaijan, which was available to the cabinet. “Under the contract, the Central Asian country would provide Pakistan a distressed LNG cargo monthly. The LNG price would be much lower than in the international market,” he said.

Under the terms of the contract, he added that it would be Pakistan’s prerogative to accept the cargo or not, but Azerbaijan would be obligated to provide distress cargo monthly.

“At the same time, the government has offered the European countries to establish LNG plants in Pakistan, therefore, Pakistan could become a transit route for gas transportation from Central Asian countries to Europe,” he said.