Polish Petrol Retailer Orlen Cuts Russian Oil Imports From 50% To 30%

Poland's largest oil refiner and petrol retailer Orlen cut the share of Russian crude oil in its imports from 50% to 30% in just a month, chief executive Daniel Obajtek said on Monday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2022) Poland's largest oil refiner and petrol retailer Orlen cut the share of Russian crude oil in its imports from 50% to 30% in just a month, chief executive Daniel Obajtek said on Monday.

"Before the war began the share of non-Russian crude refined by our group stood at more than 50%. The day the war began we stopped buying Russian oil from tankers and booked 28 tankers of alternatively sourced oil. Some 70% of oil in the concern's portfolio is not sourced from Russia," he told the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Orlen plans to continue scaling back Russian crude imports after it merges with Lotos, another large Polish oil and gas company that has a contract with Gulf exporters for 20 million tonnes of oil per year. Orlen has three contracts with Russian oil exporters, one of which expires in January 2023.

Obajtek said EU member states needed to coordinate their efforts to move away from Russian hydrocarbon imports to keep the market in balance. Poland plans to stop buying coal, gas and oil from Russia by the end of this year.