KARACHI - Pakistan State Oil (PSO), the country's largest fuel supplier, will import 3.5 millions tonnes of diesel from Kuwait next year, sources in PSO said on Tuesday.

We have had a long-term contract with Kuwait Petroleum and usually import between 3.2 million tonnes to 3.3 millions tonnes, said a PSO official.

But just to be on the safe side, we are importing 3.5 million tonnes for next year, the official said.

One industry source said that PSO was not expected to get a lower premium for its 2010 supplies from state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), despite the heavy stockpiles that have plagued the global market for most of this year.

The supplies are for the January-June period, rather than for the whole year, the source said.

The source added that PSO bought nearly 3.0 million tonnes for its July-December 2009 supplies, when premiums were less than $3.00 a barrel, on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.

Premiums will not be lower despite ample supplies and low demand, said an industry source.

Sources added that PSO had earlier asked for a spot parcel from a Western trader at premiums of less than $3.00 a barrel, C&F basis, which it had wanted to use as a yardstick for the term negotiations with KPC.

But it was unable to get that level for the spot cargo, industry sources said.

PSO was trading down 0.59 percent at 299.25 rupees by 3:18 p.m. in a broader market which was up 0.04 percent. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Additional reporting by Seng Li Peng in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)