Page 10 - FSUOGM Week 19 2022

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Orlen eyes leadership role

in CEE fuel supply

POLAND POLAND’S state-owned energy giant PKN Agency that it had tested over 100 types of oil to
Orlen has said it could replace Russia as the find the best sources available to displace Russian
Orlen has been working main oil and fuel supplier in Central and Eastern crude.
for years on reducing its Europe (CEE), manoeuvring its access to infra- Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek said in late April
Russian oil purchases. structure, suppliers and fuel production. that the company was fully prepared to imple-
As the EU negotiates a phased embargo of ment a ban on Russian oil. The company is near
Russian oil and petroleum products, many coun- to closing the purchase of Poland’s second big-
tries in the CEE region stand to take the biggest gest oil refiner Lotos, which will give it greater
economic hit from such a ban, owing to their control over the Gdansk oil terminal on the Bal-
heavy dependence on Russian fuel. tic coast, which could provide non-Russian oil
“At the moment of cancelling supplies from not only for Polish refineries but also facilities in
the east, Orlen will maintain stable oil supplies neighbouring Germany.
not only to Poland but to the whole of Central Orlen’s refineries in the Czech Republic will
and Eastern Europe,” the company told the Pol- benefit from a recent decision by the Czech gov-
ish Press Agency. Orlen stands ready for any sce- ernment to raise its stake in the TAL pipeline
nario, it said. that carries oil from the Italian port of Trieste
Orlen owns six refineries – three in Poland, and through Austria and Germany. The govern-
two in the Czech Republic and one in Lithuania. ment currently has a 5% stake in the pipeline,
These facilities handle around just under 30mn but by increasing its ownership, it will be able to
tonnes per year (600,000 barrels per day) of Rus- book more capacity to supply non-Russian oil to
sian oil. Czech refineries. Currently, these refineries get
Over the years, Orlen has been striving to half of their oil from TAL and the other half from
reduce purchase of oil from Russia, which it Russia’s Druzhba system.
receives via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, by “We are ready to invest more than our pro-
reaching out to other suppliers particularly in portionate part,” Czech Industry Minister Jozef
the Middle East. While Russian oil accounted for Sikela said on May 6. “We are also prepared to
90% of the oil it refined in 2017, the share fell to raise our stake, because one of the things we are
70% in 2020. The company told the Polish Press seeking is to get almost all the extra capacity.” ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 11•May•2022