Second Russian crude oil ship docks at Karachi Port

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Another Russian ship carrying thousands of metric tons of crude oil docked at the Karachi Port on Tuesday morning.

The Russian ship, named Clyde Noble, for now docked within limits of the Karachi Port. Bringing the tanker to the oil pier will begin as soon as the berthing plan is finalized.

For the moment, the Russian vessel is docked at the outer anchorage.

The second Russian cargo ship is reported to be carrying 55,000 metric tons of crude oil.

It was earlier reported that the second cargo, under the deal between Islamabad and Moscow, was slated to arrive on June 20; however, it was delayed by a week and the Karachi Port does not have the capacity to handle huge ships.

A lack of space at the Pakistan Refinery Limited storage tanks was cited as another reason behind the delay. PRL is the first domestic refinery to obtain crude oil from Russia under the government-led deal.

Pakistan received its first cargo of Russian crude oil on June 12 when a tanker carrying 45,000 tons of crude oil docked at the Karachi Port.

The government had placed the first order of 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil in April this year after months-long parleys between the two countries over the terms and conditions of the deal.

Under this deal, Russia sent the first oil tanker carrying 100,000 metric tons of crude, which arrived at the Omani port early this month. However, the authorities decided that it would be transported to Pakistan through smaller ships as the Pakistani port could not accommodate heavy ships carrying more than 50,000 tons of oil cargo.

It is worth noting that the vessel, which was loaded with Ural crude on April 21 at a Russian port, was delayed for 10 days due to technical reasons.