Pakistan to import US crude oil for the first time.
Cnergyico (PSX: CNERGY) will import Pakistan’s first-ever crude oil cargo from the United States in October 2025 under a term agreement with Vitol, Reuters reported.
The shipment of 1 million barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude will be loaded from Houston this month and arrive in Karachi in the second half of October.
If this delivery is viable, imports may continue on a monthly basis.
The agreement follows a recent US-Pakistan trade deal that imposed a 19 percent tariff on Pakistani exports.
Pakistan’s finance and petroleum ministries encouraged local refineries to explore US crude options after an earlier threat of higher tariffs.
Cnergyico operates Pakistan’s largest refinery, with a capacity of 156,000 barrels per day, and the country’s only single-point mooring terminal near Karachi, enabling it to handle large tankers.
The company said the US crude is compatible with existing infrastructure and requires no blending.
The move will reduce reliance on Middle Eastern suppliers, who currently dominate Pakistan’s $11.3 billion annual oil import bill.
Cnergyico is also planning a second offshore terminal and long-term refinery upgrades.
The refinery has been running at 30–35 percent capacity due to weak demand, but it expects higher utilization as domestic consumption recovers.
