Pakistan recently bought its second shipment of US crude, an unusual change from its usual intake of sour Mideast Gulf crude.
The country's largest refiner Cnergyico will receive 1mn bl of US light sweet WTI/WTL crude for delivery in November from trading firm Vitol, Cnergyico vice-chairman Usama Qureshi said. The deal, which was priced against Mideast Gulf benchmark Dubai assessments, was concluded around the end of last week.
The purchase is part of Cnergyico's term supply arrangement with Vitol, under which Cnergyico has access to a variety of crude including Kazakh CPC Blend, as well Middle East, west African and US grades.
Cnergyico had bought its first ever shipment of US crude in August as a test cargo for October delivery to Karachi, Pakistan from Vitol. Qureshi then said Cnergyico would be open to scaling up imports to 1mn bl/month. The Suezmax Pegasus departed the US on 16 September after loading 1mn bl of WTL and is currently signalling Karachi as its destination with estimated arrival near the end of October, Kpler and Vortexa data show.
Cnergyico is assessing whether it would be commercially viable to continue buying US crude, especially as premiums for Abu Dhabi light sweet Murban are also falling, Qureshi said. Front-month November Murban was assessed at a three-month low premium of $1.89/bl against November Dubai swaps on 26 September.
The Middle East is currently Pakistan's main crude supplier. Imports from the Middle East accounted for almost all of Pakistan's crude intake that averaged 170,000 b/d over January-August 2025, Vortexa data show.
Cnergyico is also exploring buying west African sweet crudes as they may be more economical, Qureshi said, which would also be unusual purchases for the refiner.
