Pakistan set to buy US crude oil for the first time

Cnergyico (PSX: CNERGY) is set to import Pakistan’s first crude oil shipment from the United States in October 2025 through a term agreement with Vitol.

A cargo of one million barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude will be loaded from Houston this month and is expected to reach Karachi in the second half of October. Officials said if this shipment proves successful, Pakistan may continue importing US crude every month.

The deal comes after the recent US-Pakistan trade agreement, under which a 19 percent tariff was imposed on Pakistani exports. In response, Pakistan’s finance and petroleum ministries advised local refineries to explore alternatives, including US crude oil, to mitigate the impact of trade tensions. Cnergyico, the private company handling the deal, runs Pakistan’s largest oil refinery, with a capacity of 156000 barrels per day. It also operates the country’s only single-point mooring terminal near Karachi, which can manage large oil tankers.

The company confirmed that US WTI crude matches the refinery’s setup and doesn’t need blending, making it easier to process. This move is expected to reduce Pakistan’s heavy reliance on oil supplies from the Middle East, which currently make up a large part of the country’s $11.3 billion oil import bill.

Cnergyico is also planning to build a second offshore terminal and upgrade its refinery facilities in the long term. Currently, the refinery is operating at 30 to 35 percent capacity due to low local demand. However, the company expects to increase operations as domestic fuel consumption rises again. The move is seen as a step towards diversifying Pakistan’s energy sources and strengthening its refining sector.