The President of PKN Orlen, the largest manufacturer and distributor of petroleum products and chemicals in Poland met with the President of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company to discuss further strengthening their cooperation.
“Today we spoke with Aramco about further cooperation in many areas,” announced Daniel Objatek, President of PKN Orlen adding that the cooperation with a global partner is essential to ensure the security of supplies of raw materials to Poland and the region.
In January, Aramco decided to strengthen its presence in the European downstream sector and further expand its crude imports into Poland, which also aligns with PKN Orlen’s strategy of diversifying its energy supplies. Aramco agreed to acquire equity stakes of 30 per cent in a 210,000 barrels per day refinery in Gdansk, 100 per cent in an associated wholesale business and 50 per cent in a jet fuel marketing joint venture with BP. In addition to the investments, Aramco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PKN Orlen and SABIC, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals companies, to explore joint opportunities in Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.
Then March, PKN Orlen ordered an additional five tankers of crude oil from the Saudi-based Aramco company in order to supply its refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
In the past four years, the ORLEN Group carried out consistent diversification of supplies to prepare for a possible stoppage of oil imports from Russia. According to the Group’s press statement in 2013, as much as 98 per cent of the supplies processed in ORLEN’s Płock refinery was REBCO (Russian Export Blend Crude Oil). Currently, it only makes up about 50 per cent, and the rest of the supplies come from Saudi Arabia, the US, West Africa and Norway. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the ORLEN Group has not made spot purchases of Russian oil but ordered 28 tankers with alternative types of crude for the company’s refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
