Polish oil group Orlen, which owns Lithuania’s Mazeikiai-based oil refinery Orlen Lietuva, plans to use only oil supplied by Saudi Arabia, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys has said.
“Orlen is renouncing Russian oil and plans to produce products only from Saudi Aramco’s Saudi Arabian oil,” said Kreivys.
Up until now, most of Orlen Lietuva’s refined oil has been Russian.
Last week, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte also said Orlen planned to completely renounce Russian crude in the near future.
Audrius Daugnora, deputy CEO at Orlen Lietuva, said the company had been diversifying its crude sources since 2014 and refining not only Russian oil, adding that it would not be difficult for the company to give up Russian oil.
Over the past years, around two-thirds of the oil processed at the refinery was Russian, Daugnora said, adding that “the numbers are turning the other way”.
In early March, Orlen said it was taking steps to increase oil supplies from alternative sources, and also announced it had agreed with Saudi Aramco to buy five additional North Sea oil tankers, some of which will be used by the Mazeikiai refinery.
Poland’s Orlen announced last year it was buying 57% of crude for its refineries from Russia under long-term supply contracts. Orlen said it acquired around 8% of its oil from Saudi Arabia, with the rest coming from the spot market. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
