Azerbaijan proposed open oil credit facility worth $100 Mn to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is offered by Azerbaijan to attain an open credit line worth $100 million for the purchase of petroleum related goods, without any superior guarantees.

According to report, a senior government official said at present the offer proposed by Azerbaijan will be a helping hand to Pakistan.

Previously, immense pressure is being built on the government related to balance of payments & falling foreign exchange reserves, for which it is decided that Pakistan will soon originate talks over a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At present, the key oil suppliers to Pakistan are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. Furthermore, if the deal with Azerbaijan gets confirmed, it will eventually diminish the unnecessary reliance on the existing key partners.

From Pakistan, Pakistan State Oil (PSO)is nominated and Azerbaijan has designated state-owned Socar for signing this commercial deal.

However, this pitch has been slowed down by some bureaucratic impediments and it is necessary for the Petroleum Division to acquire consent of the cabinet for waiver of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules so as to make sure a government-to-government (G2G) agreement with Azerbaijan.

The energy ministries from Pakistan & Azerbaijan had reached an inter-governmental agreement in February 2017.

But the proceedings & documents of this agreement became a fatality of bureaucratic brawl and hurdles between PSO offices in Karachi and the Petroleum Division in Islamabad. Due to which the case was suffered, and wasn’t provided to cabinet for a go-ahead.

Presently, the board of directors at PSO has already given a go-ahead to the draft of the proposed deal and has sought the government’s approval to waive the PPRA rules for the import of petroleum products from Azerbaijan.