Poland’s top refiner is weaning itself off of Russian crude oil

PKN Orlen has all but pivoted away from Russian crude at its refineries in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic a year after its neighbor invaded Ukraine. 

“We substituted Russian oil without curtailing oil processing,” said Grzegorz Markiewicz, executive director of oil and gas trading at Poland’s largest fuelmaker. 

“Refinery margins are still good and we are taking full advantage of that,” he said during an interview during the CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston on Wednesday. 

Orlen still relies on Russian Urals crude for 7% of the oil it processes, down from 30% before the war. Its refineries in Poland and Lithuania have been completely weaned off of Russian supplies while the plant in the Czech Republic is still receiving some shipments via the southern leg of the Druzhba pipeline. 

Orlen replaced Russian oil mainly with the Arab Light grade from Saudi Arabia, Johan Sverdrup crude from the North Sea and West Texas Intermediate, which “is a great grade used to blend with other oils, the main reason why you see so much WTI going to Europe,” he said.

The company is taking roughly 1 million barrels of WTI a month via a term-contract with Exxon Mobil Corp., the top exporter of US crude.