The United States has advised Pakistan to adhere to the Group of Seven (G7) price cap regarding oil imports from Russia.
It has also reaffirmed its commitment to bilateral energy cooperation under the ‘Green Alliance’ framework.
In an exclusive interview, State Department Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt backed the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) pipeline and the Central Asia-South Asia (Casa) projects as part of American diplomacy.
Pyatt visited Pakistan accompanied by a multiple-agency delegation to signal the US commitment to a very strong partnership and also to reflect on the important transitional moment that has arrived.
In the interview, Pyatt mentioned two significant transitions emerging in global energy. One’s Russia, which being the largest oil and gas explorer, he said, had weaponized oil and gas against Europe.
He added that in the current war, Russia would never be viewed as a reliable energy supplier again, and “this has significant implications for every country where energy is important”, including Pakistan.
“Pakistan, like Bangladesh, India, and other developing countries, became victims of Gazprom’s actions,” he said. “Russia is not a reliable energy supplier,” he added, speaking about the much-talked-about oil deal between Pakistan and Russia.
Pyatt hoped that Pakistan conducted negotiations with Russia for crude oil supply “as hard as it can” to drive the best possible price, stressing that the G7-Plus post-mechanism on crude oil had set the leverage for Russian oil import to Europe.
