Poland to Expand Oil Pipelines as it Diversifies Supplies
Poland's government approved a plan on Tuesday to build more pipelines to help Warsaw take more oil deliveries from sources other than its biggest supplier Russia.
Poland imports most of the oil it refines from Russia through the eastern part of a pipeline known as "Friendship", running from the border with Belarus to a refinery in Plock, central Poland. The western part of the Friendship pipeline connects Plock with the German town Schwedt.
Plock is also connected to the port of Gdansk on the Baltic Sea, where Poland has its second refinery and which is also taking increasing volumes of oil from oversees as it strives to reduce reliance on Russian supplies.
State-run refiners PKN Orlen, the owner of the Plock refinery and Gdansk-based Lotos, are buying more oil from sources including the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
As a result, Poland is planning to build a second pipeline connecting Plock to Gdansk.
"The argument behind the project is a dynamic growth of the importance of seaborne oil supplies, which is a result of deliveries diversification strategy," the government said in a statement after its weekly meeting.
Currently the capacity of the Gdansk-Plock pipeline is around 30 million tonnes a year.
Poland also wants to expand the pipeline south to Trzebinia, saying southern Poland is a significant fuel consumer.
Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko
