Grupa Lotos is seeking to sharply reduce its intake of Urals crude
Lotos intends to split term supplies into three different crude grades, each with a 25pc share of Gdansk's supply, Lotos' chief executive Marcin Jastrzebski told Argus. The remaining 25pc will continue to be sourced through spot deals, he said.
"My personal ambition is to have 25pc each crude grade diversification," Jastrzebski said.
If implemented, the plan would represent a significant reduction in Urals' share at Gdansk. Lotos currently gets at least 40pc of crude for the facility through a Urals term deal. It has a contract to buy 55,000-60,000 b/d from Russia's state-controlled Rosneft until the end of this year, and was buying Urals through term deals with Tatneft and trading firm Vitol in 2016. It did not disclose whether these were extended.
The share of Urals in Gdansk crude runs fell to about 75pc in 2016 from more than 92pc in 2014, following an increase in non-Urals seaborne crude shipments to Gdansk since 2015.
Jastrzebski said diversification and a larger share of non-Urals crude would allow Gdansk to increase its margins. He said this won't be easy technically — Gdansk was set up to process Urals — or politically, even though the Polish government is pushing for energy companies to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies.
A number of refiners in central Europe that mainly run Urals have been taking Iranian crude in recent months, including Hungary's Mol, state-run Belarusian firm BNK and Poland's PKN Orlen. Lotos should receive a shipment of Iranian Heavy in May.
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