PKN Orlen terminated the contract with the Russian company Tatneft for the supply of crude oil from this direction, TVN24 Biznes informed the press office of the concern from Płock. This happened after the supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Poland were stopped by the Russian side. Orlen’s contract with Tatneft was originally supposed to expire in 2024.
In the reply sent to us, the PKN Orlen press office confirmed the termination of the oil supply contract between PKN Orlen and Tatneft. “The termination of the contractual relationship was caused by the suspension of deliveries, which we recorded in February and the following weeks of this year,” informed the representatives of the Płock concern.
We asked whether PKN Orlen had received any response from Tatneft and whether the Polish company would face penalties for terminating the contract, which was originally supposed to expire in 2024. However, the company from Płock did not disclose information on this matter. “We do not disclose other circumstances due to the requirement of confidentiality” – we read in the reply sent to us.
The president of the concern announced the termination of the contract by PKN Orlen on Tuesday evening Daniel Obajtek in Polsat News.
Orlen’s contracts for the supply of Russian oil
From the beginning of the Russian invasion on Ukraine two Orlen contracts for the supply of Russian oil remained in force. The contract with Rosneft expired at the end of January this year. The agreement with Tatneft remained in force. – (…) the contract with Tatneft, which was signed in 2015, which entered into two months before the outbreak of the war, i.e. 10 percent to our system, expires in 2024. But after the visit (in Poland – ed.) of Mr. President (USA Joe – ed.) Biden, the supply of this oil was generally suspended – he said on February 28 this year. Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek during a press conference.
Obajtek explained that Orlen had not terminated the contract with Tatneft before the suspension of deliveries by the Russian side due to possible penalties. The EU sanctions do not apply to the transport of Russian oil via land pipelines.
“According to the assessment, there were legal doubts about the possibility of introducing sanctions on oil supplies from Russia at the national level. Termination of ongoing contracts without European sanctions would mean for Poland the threat of paying financial penalties to the Russian company and generating income for its benefit, and thus for the benefit of the Russian budget, from which aggression against Ukraine is financed,” he wrote in a recent response to an interpellation by MPs from the Civic Coalition Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Piotr Dziadzio.
Main photo source: orlen.pl