Poland side-steps Russian oil cut-off

Poland has arranged for seaborne deliveries to help boost its oil supply after Russia cut off deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline amid a row with Belarus, Polish officials said today.

Deputy Economy Minister Piotr Naimski said Poland’s oil supply situation was under control, and that seaborne oil deliveries should arrive “in a matter of days.”

Naimski would not comment on specifics about the deliveries, saying it was a matter for Poland’s two major refineries.

He said Poland had informed Germany that it was ready to help supply two German refineries that also had their oil deliveries interrupted due to the trade spat between Minsk and Moscow that erupted Monday.

The European Union’s only oil terminal capable of pumping seaborne crude shipments into the Druzhba pipeline – which terminates at the Leuna and Schwedt refineries in eastern Germany – is in the Polish Baltic port city of Gdansk.

Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga and Naimski said the pipeline shutdown buttressed Poland’s arguments for a collective European energy policy and its opposition to the German-Russian project to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

“Our offer to the German refineries is an example of Polish solidarity,” Fotyga said. “We expect similar solidarity from our partners in the EU, which we have long believed is the only basis for energy security for the whole of Europe.”

Poland, which receives around 96% of the oil it consumes via the Druzhba pipeline, is pushing to diversify its energy supplies to wean itself off Russian deliveries.
Source: irishexaminer.com