PKN Orlen: Russian oil supplies via Druzhba pipeline suspended

PKN Orlen informed Polish Press Agency on Saturday that it was not receiving oil supplies from Russia. Deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to Poland have been halted by the Russian side, the company stressed.

PKN Orlen is not receiving oil supplies from Russia. Deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to Poland have been halted by the Russian side, the company said.

At the same time, as Orlen stressed, the company was fully prepared for such a situation and supplies to its refineries could be made entirely by sea. Therefore, the suspension of supplies will not affect the supply of the company’s products, including petrol and diesel, to Polish customers.

As the company recalled, from the beginning of February 2023, after the expiry of the contract with Rosneft, Russian oil supplies covered only around 10 per cent of Orlen’s demand for this raw material. These were exclusively pipeline supplies, for which no international sanctions were imposed.

PKN Orlen stressed that it had abandoned importing crude oil by sea and finished fuels from Russia already since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, i.e. significantly before the EU embargoes on this type of supply were introduced.

At present, PKN Orlen’s import portfolio is based on oil supplies from the North Sea, West Africa, the Mediterranean basin, as well as the Persian and Mexican Gulfs. An important partner of the company is Saudi Aramco, with which PKN Orlen concluded a strategic contract for oil supplies in 2022, the company stressed.

At the same time, it recalled that as recently as 2015, Russian oil accounted for almost 100 per cent of the raw material processed at the company’s plants. The significant decrease in the use of this raw material in Polish refineries is the result of intensive efforts to diversify supply, Orlen pointed out.

The company has an oil supply contract with Russian company Tatneft, which is valid until the end of 2024. PKN Orlen declared that it would suspend imports in the event of the imposition of appropriate sanctions by the EU, otherwise a breach of the existing contract risks the need to pay compensation.

Source: PortalMorski.pl