The Polish oil concern Orlen, which operates the Mazeikiu refinery Orlen Lietuva, is about to give up Russian oil in the near future, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonīte told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday.
“As far as I know, the company [“Orlen Lietuva”] is going to give up this crude oil in the near future. This is a decision of the company, because buying not the state, but Orlen. As far as I know, the company is already very close to the stage when it will no longer buy Russian oil and use it for refining, “she said, answering the question whether Lithuania really has to give up all Russian energy resources.
At the beginning of March, Audrjus Daugnora, the company’s Deputy General Manager, pointed out that Orlen Lietuva has been diversifying its sources of raw materials and processing not only Russian oil since 2014, so it would not be difficult to give it up.
According to him, in recent years, about two-thirds of refined oil has come from Russia, but now the ratio is “reversing”.
Orlen announced earlier this month that it had agreed with Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Aramco to purchase an additional five North Sea oil tankers and some of that oil would be diverted to the Mazeikiu plant.
Last year, the Polish oil group reported that it buys 57% of its crude oil from Russia under long-term supply contracts, another about 8% from Saudi Arabia, and buys the rest on the spot market.
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