Poland’s biggest oil refiner PKN Orlen said on Friday that a shipment of 130,000 tons of Iranian crude oil has arrived at the Baltic seaport of Gdansk.
Most of the oil refined in Polish refineries comes via pipelines from Russia, but state-run PKN Orlen and Lotos are increasingly buying from other sources, including Iran and the United States, Reuters reported.
“Delivery from Iran has become a fact. Oil from the Middle East gives us many opportunities. First of all, it enables diversification of delivery directions and increases the energy security of the state,” PKN said in a statement.
The Iranian oil, which is lighter than the Russian crude and contains less sulfur, will be refined at PKN’s plant at Plock, northwest of Warsaw. PKN said that earlier tests of the Iranian oil “confirmed its significant potential”.
It took a month for the Delta Kanaris tanker to transport the Iranian cargo from the Kharg Island to Gdansk.
The average daily crude oil export during the last Iranian year (ended on March 20) increased by 60,000 barrels compared to its proceeding year, bringing the total exports of oil and gas condensate to 2.6 million barrels per day at some points.
China, India, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Russia, France, Spain, Romania, Indonesia, Poland and the Netherlands were among the country’s oil buyers last year.
However, due to some maintenance issues and the inauguration of the Persian Gulf Star Gas Refinery, which consumed about 120 million barrels of gas condensates per day, the export of this product diminished accordingly so that the exports decreased in October and the following months.
