Polish oil giant PKN Orlen announced on Saturday that its Russian partner had stopped delivering oil to it through the Druzhba pipeline under the last contract in force, which covered about 10% of the group’s needs.
“The Russian side has stopped deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline to Poland,” the Polish group said in a statement sent to AFP.
Cet arrêt survient au lendemain de l’approval par l’Union européenne d’un nouveau train de sanctions destinées à frapper l’économie de la Russie et des entreprises iraniennes accusées de sutenir son invasion de l’Ukraine, lancée il ya tout juste un anus.
No impact on the supply of Polish customers
The group had already stopped, a year ago, importing Russian oil by sea. However, Orlen assured that this closure will not have an impact on the supply of Polish customers and that “all deliveries can [désormais] be provided by sea” by other suppliers.
For several years, Poland has greatly diversified its sources of oil and gas supply. PKN Orlen imports oil by sea “from the North Sea, West Africa, the Mediterranean basin, but also from the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico.”
The group signed a “strategic oil delivery contract” with Saudi Aramco last year.
The only contract still in force
Fifteen days ago, a deputy minister of State Assets, Maciej Malecki, admitted that the contract in force with the Russian group Tatneft, which expired at the end of 2024, covered “around 10% of Orlen’s needs”, that is, 200,000 tons. of oil per year. month, transported by the Druzhba pipeline.
The statement caused an uproar in Poland, a staunch supporter of the Russian oil embargo since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which boasted last year that it had a “radical plan” to abandon Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.
Maciej Malecki then assured that the contract with Tatneft was “the only one” that was still in force.
Source: BFM TV
