The country intends to buy at least 100,000 tonnes of oil imported by Poland every month despite an agreement with Russia to resume supplies, the biznesalert.pl website has reported, citing Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.
Deliveries would be made possible through the reverse mode of the Soviet-built Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, according to the Polish website.
Shipments could start no earlier than June as the transmission schedule for May has already been set, biznesalert.pl reported.
The news came after the chief engineer for the Druzhba pipeline’s Belarusian section was quoted as saying in January that oil deliveries from Poland’s Baltic port of Gdańsk to Belarus were possible.
At the end of February, Polish pipeline operator PERN said that preparatory work was under way to allow the reverse flow of oil via a section of the Druzhba pipeline in Poland, according to biznesalert.pl. The website added that two-way flow was not possible before.
In September, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly said that his country was forced to look for alternative oil supplies after Russia went ahead with a “tax maneuver by taxing the extraction of mineral resources.”
Lukashenko was quoted as saying at the time that “getting oil from Gdańsk – via Poland to Belarus – turned out to be the most profitable option.”
The Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline is the world’s longest oil link, running from Russia to Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Germany. It can ship up to 1 million barrels per day.
(gs/pk)
Source: biznesalert.pl