Poland's Lotos takes first Saudi oil shipment

Poland’s Lotos takes first Saudi oil shipment

Polish refiner Lotos has received a shipment of crude oil from Saudi Aramco , the possible first step in a long-term relationship between the two state-controlled firms, Lotos said on Tuesday

July 3, 2012 5:21 by Reuters

Polish refiner Lotos has received a shipment of crude oil from Saudi Aramco , the possible first step in a long-term relationship between the two state-controlled firms, Lotos said on Tuesday.

The shipment of 60,000 tonnes of Saudi Extra Light crude in the tanker Bareilly to the port of Gdansk was the result Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to Saudi Arabia in April, Lotos said.

Poland is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas but Lotos has also refined Middle East crude from Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE. It also refines North Sea crude and oil from the Baltic produced by its upstream unit Petrobaltic

“If the assessment of Saudi Extra Light’s usefulness is positive both in technological and economic terms, it is possible to establish long-term cooperation with Saudi Aramco,” Lotos said in a statement.

(Reporting by Maciej Onoszko; Editing by William Hardy)