News from the Financial Associated Press on December 30 (edited by Xia Junxiong)On Thursday (December 29), Poland’s climate and environment minister Anna Moskwa said the country was ready to deal with Russia’s ban on oil sales to countries that impose price caps. Poland has reduced imports of Russian crude and secured alternative supplies from producers such as Saudi Arabia.
The Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and Australia agreed this month to cap the price of Russian seaborne oil at $60 a barrel from Dec. 5. As a countermeasure, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree this week banning the supply of crude oil and refined products to countries that impose price limits on Russian oil for five months from February 1 next year.
Poland’s top refiner PKN Orlen said that Poland has been gradually reducing its imports of Russian crude oil and stopped buying Russian seaborne oil after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out. Orlen said it already has access to alternative oil supplies through its partnership with Saudi Aramco.
Moskva said at a news conference: “We are ready to process all types of crude oil, which is our advantage.” She also revealed that she believes that the next EU sanctions package will include further decisions to ban Russian oil.
The European Union has banned the import of Russian oil by sea since December 5, but the Druzhba pipeline has not been sanctioned. Druzhba is a large-scale oil pipeline system that transports crude oil from Russia to Central and Eastern Europe. It is the longest oil pipeline in the world.
According to sources, Poland is seeking Germany’s support to impose sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba pipeline at the EU level, so that Poland can abandon the agreement to buy Russian oil next year without paying a fine.
Poland and Germany have pledged to try to end imports of Russian oil through the Druzhba North pipeline by the end of the year, but Orlen remains bound by a contract with Rosneft (Tatneft).