PERN prepared to supply oil delivered to Poland by sea

If sanctions against Russia come into force and crude oil reception via the “Druzhba” pipeline is stopped, PERN and its infrastructure is prepared to meet the needs of its clients in terms of crude oil supplies delivered by the sea – PERN CEO Igor Wasilewski assured.

The president of PERN, an entity strategic for the energy security of Poland, underlined that both Naftoport, an entity of PERN Group, and the storage infrastructure of PERN itself, developed in the recent years, designed for the raw material, are ready to receive the crude oil delivered via the Baltic Sea. At the same time, he stressed that the company continues to expand and modernise its fuel depots.

– We have done our homework. Observing how the crude oil market develops, how the fuel market develops, we have expanded our capacities for crude oil and fuel products, and in the case of fuel bases we continue to expand our capacities. From this point of view, the development of the market has not surprised us. And to the question whether today the infrastructure is ready, in the changed situation due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, the answer is: yes, we are prepared – stressed Wasilewski.

He recalled that the suspension of oil supplies to Poland was “rehearsed by the company when the chloride crisis appeared” – In April 2019, Poland received over 1 million tonnes of Russian crude oil destined for customers both in the country and in Germany, with the raw material, as PERN reported at the time, having an “extremely high concentration of organic chlorides, even 300 ppm, although the permissible standard is 10 ppm”, and such a “level of contamination was very dangerous for refinery systems, possibly leading to their destruction”.

– At that time we shut down the flow of oil from the east for 46 days. Now, after the sanctions, we will have to prepare for the inflow of this oil from the sea, not intermittently, but as a whole. Of course it is a much bigger scale, much bigger commitment and challenge, but fully possible to be realised – assured the president of PERN.

Wasilewski also pointed out that Naftoport, which receives tankers with crude oil, recorded the record volume of reloading the raw material and fuels last year – 18 million tonnes, and already this year, after five months, it is 9.5 million tonnes, including 8.5 million tonnes of crude oil – whereas the nominal reloading capacity in Naftoport amounts to 36 million tonnes of crude oil and 4 million tonnes of fuels.

– If sanctions against Russia come into force and there are no oil supplies from the east, the northern section of our crude oil pipeline – the Pomeranian Pipeline – will operate in one direction. The crude will be transported from Gdansk to Plock. If we look at the capacity of this pipeline, what our storage capacities look like, we are able to satisfy all customers with whom we have signed contracts today – said the president of PERN.

PERN is a state-owned entity, strategic for the energy security of Poland, managing, among others, pipelines pumping crude oil to the refineries of PKN Orlen in Płock and Grupa Lotos in Gdańsk, as well as to two refineries in Germany and having storage bases for raw materials and fuels.

Source: PortalMorski.pl