Pakistan signs petroleum supply deal with Oman amid Hormuz crisis

KARACHI (Web Desk) - A senior official of the state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) said on Monday that the company has signed a sale purchase agreement (SPA) with Oman's OQ Trading Limited (OQT) to import petroleum products, a move experts say will help Islamabad diversify its petroleum supplies and strengthen energy security. The SPA was signed on Oct 8 after Pakistan's federal cabinet and the PSO board of directors approved it, a PSO official told Arab News on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the matter. Pakistan's Economic Coordination Committee had earlier approved the agreement in August. The agreement takes place as Islamabad scrambles to diversify its fuel imports amid regional tensions. The US-Iran war in the Middle East has disrupted energy supplies that reach Pakistan through the Strait of Hormuz, driving oil prices higher and forcing Islamabad to conserve its stock of petroleum products. 'The PSO engaged with OQT for finalizing a draft SPA for the supply of petroleum products,' the PSO official said without sharing further details of the agreement. Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik and petroleum ministry spokesperson Zafar Abbas did not respond to questions seeking further details of the agreement. OQT is the international energy and commodity trading arm of the Oman government, with a remit to source, transport, trade, and market qualifying commodity products in the global marketplace. The agreement was signed under an inter-governmental agreement that the governments of Pakistan and Oman signed in May 2018 to boost bilateral energy cooperation. The SPA itself was signed on Oct. 8, with PSO notifying its shareholders during a stock filing about the development last week.