June 5, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1423

SINGAPORE, June 4: Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has agreed to supply Pakistan State Oil Co. (PSO) diesel of 0.5 per cent sulphur from July under a current term deal for about 3.3 million tons of product for 2002, a KPC source said on Tuesday.

The deal reduces the sulphur content from 1.0 per cent.

“We have been selling Pakistan 1.0 per cent sulphur diesel so far, but we have now concluded the deal to sell them 0.5 per cent material for July to December, and we will probably continue to do so beyond December,” the KPC source said.

The shift to lower sulphur, higher-quality diesel is part of Pakistan’s goal to tighten specifications of its oil imports.

It also is due to KPC’s plans to halt 1.0 per cent sulphur diesel sales after the start up of a new desulphuriser unit at its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery by July.

KPC supplies PSO with diesel via a long-term contract, in which volumes are renewed at the beginning of each year and the term price reviewed every six months.—Reuters