Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 09 2023

FSUOGM PIPELINES & TRANSPORT FSUOGM

Russia halts oil supply to Poland

RUSSIA RUSSIA has halted oil deliveries to Poland via according to Reuters.
the Druzhba pipeline, the head of Polish refinery The stoppage in supplies to PKN Orlen also
It follows the delivery of PKN Orlen said on February 15, noting that the comes after US President Joe Biden paid a visit
Polish-owned tanks to company would seek out alternative sources to to Warsaw and Kyiv last week, in a show of sup-
Ukraine. plug the supply gap. port to Ukraine and to stress Nato’s unity. On
“Russia has stopped oil supplies to Poland, for February 24, the EU agreed on a 10th package
which we are fully prepared. Only 10% of the raw of sanctions against Russia, targeting supplies of
material came from Russia and we will replace any technology used in the Russian military and
it with oil from other directions,” CEO Daniel expanding the list of blacklisted Russian banks,
Obajtek posted on Twitter. “This is the result of among other things.
diversification that we have carried out in recent PKN Orlen ceased seaborne Russian oil
years.” imports last year after the EU introduced its
Russia has provided no explanation for the embargo on those supplies in December. The
halt in supplies. Russian pipeline oil supplies are company says its supply sources include Western
exempted from the EU embargo on the coun- Africa, the Mediterranean, the Gulf and the Gulf
try’s crude oil. But Moscow’s move comes a day of Mexico. It also penned a new deal with Saudi
after Poland delivered its first Leopard tanks to Aramco last year.
Ukraine. Seaborne oil deliveries arrive in Poland at the
PKN Orlen has said it will be able to fully sup- Naftoport terminal in Gdansk on the shore of the
ply its refineries via sea and that there will be no Baltic Sea. The terminal can receive up to 36mn
impact on supplies of gasoline and diesel to the tonnes per year (720,000 barrels per day) of oil.
company’s customers. It provides oil not only to refineries in Poland but
Since February, when PKN Orlen’s long-term also in Germany.
supply contract with Rosneft expired, the com- "Given the capacity of Naftoport and the fact
pany has been receiving crude from another that we also have other routes to import motor
Russian oil company Tatneft, it said. Oil deliv- fuels, clients will not feel any impact, while
eries via the southern branch of Druzhba to Orlen has been prepared for this for months,"
the Czech Republic, where two of PKN Orlen’s Mateusz Berger, Poland's Secretary of State in
refineries are based, continues as normal, local charge of strategic energy infrastructure, told
pipeline operator Mero said on February 25, Reuters. ™

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