Russia halted oil shipments to Poland after pipeline operator Transneft failed to receive the necessary documents for the crude to leave the country.
The producer of the oil that was supposed to be delivered to Poland in the last days of February did not send shipping orders or payment for the transit, Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin said on Monday. The pipeline operator’s loading schedule was also modified to exclude flows to Polish refineries, he said.
To deliver crude to foreign markets, Transneft requires an export plan approved by the Russian Energy Ministry and shipping orders from oil producers.
The shutdown came a day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached the one-year mark. Poland has been one of Kiev’s staunchest defenders, sending humanitarian aid, weapons and accepting some 1.5 million refugees. It was also the first European country to have Russia cut off its gas supplies in 2022, days after the war began.
On Saturday, Poland’s largest oil company, PKN Orlen SA, said it had unexpectedly stopped receiving oil through the northern section of the Druzhba pipeline. Flows for this month were forecast at about 220,000 tonnes, or about 58,000 barrels per day, more than half the January shipments.
PKN Orlen said on Monday that it has no business or direct commercial relationship with Transneft. It has a supply agreement with Russian oil producer Tatneft PJSC, which uses Transneft’s services to ship crude to foreign buyers.
Tatneft did not respond to a request for comment on the lack of shipping orders to Poland.
According to Transneft’s original export plan, flows of Russian oil to Poland were scheduled for the last 10 days of February, Dyomin said. Russia’s Energy Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the changes to the export plan.
Separately, Transneft said on Monday that it has started sending Kazakh oil through Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, for final delivery to Germany.
Although pipeline flows are excluded from the EU’s ban on oil imports from Russia, Poland has repeatedly said it plans to stop buying crude from the country altogether. But without formal European sanctions, Warsaw was unable to cancel the only remaining contract with a Russian supplier.
Russian oil makes up about 10% of Polish supplies after the country rushed to cut imports following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw-listed Orlen said consumers would not be affected by the Druzhba shutdown, which it said it had prepared for.
The cut in February flows came just days before Russia plans to curb its output by 500,000 barrels a day in March in retaliation for Western energy sanctions. The reduction is equivalent to approximately 5% of national production in January.
Druzhba’s southern section, which supplies crude to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was operating normally on Saturday.
–With the assistance of Maciej Martewicz.
