PKN Orlen moves a step closer to feedstock independence

Good news for Poland's PKN Orlen this week. All oil producers in the country are reliant on Russian crude; a vestige of the Soviet era.

Now the country's oil group, Grupa Lotos, has signed a letter of intend with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to co-operate on oil production.

A pipeline which currently runs from Odessa on Ukraine's Black Sea coast to Brody in southern Poland could be extended to Plock, where Orlen is based.


Poland's second-biggest oil concern Grupa Lotos signed a letter of intent with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) on cooperation concerning technical and economic analyses of potential business projects in Azerbaijan , Poland and other countries, Lotos announced.

According to gowarsaw.eu, "The companies will set up an experts group to probe into potential cooperation fields. Grupa Lotos is a key player on both wholesale and retail fuel markets in Poland and is carrying out upstream operations on the Baltic Sea through its subsidiary Petrobaltic; it also holds stakes in several oil concessions the Norwegian Continental Shelf."