“Supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Poland have been stopped by the Russian side,” the Polish group said in a statement. Thus, “PKN Orlen will not receive [plus] Oil from Russia.
The shutdown comes a day after the European Union passed a new set of sanctions aimed at hitting the Russian economy and Iranian companies accused of aiding their invasion of Ukraine. The group stopped importing Russian oil by sea a year ago.
However, Orlen assured that this shutdown will not affect the supply of Polish customers and “all deliveries can [désormais] be provided by sea” from other suppliers.
Only contract in force
Poland has largely diversified its gas and oil supply for several years.
PKN Orlen imports oil by sea “from the North Sea, West Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, but also the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico”. The group signed a “strategic oil supply agreement” with Saudi Aramco last year.
Two weeks ago, a deputy minister of state wealth, Maciej Malecki, acknowledged that the current contract with Russian group Tatneft, which expired at the end of 2024, covers “around 10% of Orlen’s needs,” or 200,000 tons of oil per month.
The statement drew attention from Poland, a staunch supporter of Russia’s oil embargo since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which boasted last year of having a “radical plan” to end Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.