Polish Orlen Says To Urge Russia To Compensate Losses Over 'Dirty' Oil, Under-Delivery

Polish oil refiner Orlen will urge Russian suppliers to compensate losses inflicted by contaminated Russian oil deliveries to Poland through the Druzhba pipeline, as well as failure to deliver the amount of oil outlined in the contract, Orlen Director General Daniel Obajtek said on Tuesday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2019) Polish oil refiner Orlen will urge Russian suppliers to compensate losses inflicted by contaminated Russian oil deliveries to Poland through the Druzhba pipeline, as well as failure to deliver the amount of oil outlined in the contract, Orlen Director General Daniel Obajtek said on Tuesday.

Problems with the quality of Russian oil coming to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline, whose Russian leg is operated by Transneft oil transport monopoly, arose in April. Poland, Ukraine and several other European states halted oil transit through the pipeline after it was discovered that the oil was contaminated with chlorides.

Poland resumed transit last Monday.

"The first thing is failure to fulfill the agreement and to deliver oil," Obajtek told reporters, stressing that Orlen intended to file a complaint against Transneft over its failure to fulfill its contractual obligations.

Obajtek added that loss assessment continued in Poland.

"We have partially processed this oil, but we had to mix it, to use our strategic reserves ... So, we had to bear certain costs ... We will file a complaint with the supplier as it has acknowledged out right to file complaints ... We will file complaints after all assessments are completed," Obajtek said.