Through agreements with Saudi Aramco, we eliminated the competition, introduced manual controls. I do not know how long it will last – said Paweł Olechnowicz, former president of Lotos, in the “Fakty po Faktach” program on TVN24. He stated that he was not sure whether new players on the Polish market would not supply crude oil from Russia.
The former president of Lotos on TVN24 referred, among other things, to the statement of the president of Orlen, Daniel Obajtek, regarding the company’s contracts with Russian suppliers. – Why didn’t we break this deal? For the sake of Orlen and for the sake of Poles. You can imagine what it means to break the contract and pay the fines, and so that the money from the fines paid would go to the Putin regime. We couldn’t do that, he said.
– In my experience, there was a clause in the contracts for Russian oil that actually did not allow to break the contract without penalty. It worked the same both ways. If, under normal conditions, Orlen had such a clause and terminated the contract, it would pay a high penalty – said Olechnowicz.
– If the Polish side broke the agreement, the question is whether it is not force majeure, if there is a war at the border, whether it is not a state of emergency and an exceptional situation. But that’s what lawyers are for. I would say that Orlen has the best lawyers in the world – he added.
– If, when concluding the sale of Lotos’ assets, these lawyers found appropriate legal grounds to lead to this sale, I think that they would be able to justify the reason for breaking the contract and defend Orlen against any penalty – he said. However, he noted that this is “for legal consideration”.
Orlen and Lotos merger. “We have introduced manual control”
Olechnowicz was also asked about the merger of Lotos and Orlen. “Looking at the market, that’s what the Union decided, not much has changed in the competition system, a new competitor has appeared on the market that was not there – MOL – said Piotr Kraśka’s guest.
He pointed out that “the situation will look a little different” when it comes to competition on the fuel market. – This is also a competitor for Orlen. Lotus was the competition. However, these were two Polish companies that had regulated business and economic relations – he stressed.
He stated that “Saudi Aramco is a different story.” – This is the largest concern in the world, it has no borders. He works the markets as they allow. The European Union market is open, regulated and competitive. We, through this type of movement, eliminated the competition and introduced manual control. I don’t know how long it will take. We have a deregulated market, where the largest concern operates, which has grounds for global action – he said.
– I am not at all convinced that we will not have Russian oil in Polish refineries. Saudi Aramco can afford anything here and supply whatever oil it wants to supply,” he said.