January 11, 2009	Sunday	Muharram 13, 1430

KARACHI, Jan 10: A ship carrying 65,000 tons of crude oil from Iran arrived at the port on Friday under the deferred payment facility.

Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) had signed an agreement last month with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which had extended the credit facility for the payment of crude oil to 90 days from 30 days.

Bosicor Refinery Limited (BRL) had also signed the agreement.

General manager Supply and Planning of PRL Aftab Husain, who accompanied the government delegation which recently visited Iran, said that the refinery would now import up to 30,000 barrels per day of Iranian light crude instead of 10,000 barrels.

Every month the PRL would at least import two cargoes of 65,000 tons each. The value of each cargo ranges between $22-23 million, he said.

When asked whether there was any difference between Iranian crude and the Light Arab crude, which is mainly imported by Pakistan, Mr Aftab said there was no major difference as both were competing crude in the world and their characteristics were almost same.

PRL had also signed an agreement with Economic Cooperation Organisation Bank (ECO Bank) in Turkey for the loan of $50 million to facilitate the import of crude oil from Iran.

The PRL managing director and chief financial officer had signed the agreement in Istanbul on Thursday, he added.

Under this agreement, the issue of opening of letters of credit (LCs) would minimise with the help of central banks of the two countries, he said.

The PRL also imports crude oil from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company apart from processing local crude, he said.

Bosicor Refinery Limited managing director Mohammad Wasi Khan told Dawn that the next cargo of 65,000 tons for the refinery would be coming in a week’s time.

He said that the agreement on deferred payment with Iran would help building foreign exchange reserves of the country by extending the payment period to 90 days.

He added that since the company had entered into an agreement first time and it can import Iranian crude up to 25,000 barrels per day.