Pakistan plans to build strategic petroleum reserves, Japanese media: Pakistan is negotiating with China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait

Golden Ten Data reported on June 5 that a Pakistani government official told Nikkei Asia, “Pakistan plans to initially establish oil reserves sufficient for 45 days of demand, which can be gradually increased to 90 days in the future.” The official revealed that the Ministry of Energy plans to adopt a multi-model strategic petroleum reserve system, including state-supported emergency inventories, mandatory industry inventories, and bonded commercial storage. Among these reserve systems, bonded commercial storage has sparked discussion. This refers to storage facilities under customs supervision, where imported oil or other fuels can be stored for re-export by domestic or foreign traders without immediate payment of duties and taxes. In case of emergencies, these stored fuels can be used domestically in Pakistan. Nikkei Asia, citing another informed government official, reported that Pakistan is in negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and China, planning to establish bonded terminals within Pakistan. “Gwadar Port could be one of the sites for such terminal construction,” the official said.