Pakistan to buy first-ever US oil cargo in deal with Vitol

KARACHI/SINGAPORE, Aug 3 (Reuters): Pakistan's largest refiner Cnergyico will import 1 million barrels of oil from Vitol in October, Cnergyico's Vice Chairman Usama Qureshi said on Friday, the country's first-ever purchase of US crude following a landmark trade deal.

The West Texas Intermediate light crude cargo will be loaded from Houston this month and is expected to arrive in Karachi in the second half of October, he said.

"This is a test spot cargo under our umbrella term agreement with Vitol. If it is commercially viable and available, we could import at least one cargo per month," Qureshi told Reuters, adding that Vitol was its long-term trading partner.

The deal follows months of negotiations that first began in April, he said, after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 29 per cent tariffs on imports from Pakistan.

Qureshi said Pakistan's finance and petroleum ministries encouraged local refineries to explore US crude imports after the April tariff announcement.

Vitol did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of office hours.