Mohammad Ali, Pakistan’s caretaker energy minister, said on Thursday that Islamabad was considering signing a long-term deal to buy between 0.7 million and 1 million tons (up to 20,000 bpd) of Russian oil per year, the TASS news agency reported.

Earlier this month, sources within the energy minister told Aaj News that Pakistan a delegation from Pakistan would reach Russia on October 9 where they would discuss the prospect of long-term deals for both oil and gas.

Pakistan would reportedly propose a price of $60 per barrel for Russian oil and would take price caps imposed by the United States and other countries into account while making a deal, they added.

If an agreement is reached, it could save Pakistan around Rs10,000 per barrel in oil imports which amounts to a difference of around Rs60 per litre.

Moscow was actively tapping into Pakistani and Indian markets, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said on October 10.

He was paying a two-day visit to Ashgabat, having already had a meeting with Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and taken part in the meeting of co-chairs of the Russian-Turkmenian intergovernmental commission.

“The relations between our countries have been propelled in recent years, and we actively cooperate on the issues of transport logistics. Last year we virtually managed to launch the Eastern route of the international transport corridor North-South.

This is very important for ensuring ties in this region of the world. Today thanks to the North-South corridor we can sell Russian goods through the territory of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran to India and Pakistan, those are our markets and we are actively tapping into them today,“ the Russian minister told reporters.