Orlen, the acquisition of Polish state gas giant PG Ni Ni NiG in 2022, is embroiled in many disputes with Russian energy giant Gazprom at the Madrid arbitration panel over the price that Poland paid for Russian gas in the period from 2017 to 2022.
According to information published by Orlen this week, the international arbitration court ruled that Russia's Gazprom has the right to charge higher gas prices for shipments supplied to Poland.
The July 1 ruling allows an increase in gas prices in the contract between PG Ni Ni Niprom, applicable for the period from 2018 to the time of further price changes in 2020 and 2021.
Orlen estimates that this adjustment could cost the Polish company about $290 million to Russia's Gazprom.
However, the ruling did not specify the detailed payment terms between the two sides and did not require Orlen to immediately compensate Gazprom.
Instead, the parties will have to agree on the payment terms themselves. Orlen also stressed that the company cannot currently transfer any money to Gazprom due to problems with current regulations.
Orlen operates in accordance with the law and complies with current sanctions, which do not allow any payment under this verdict, the company said.
According to Orlen, in the next phase, the arbitration court will consider requests from both sides regarding gas prices in 2021 and 2022, as well as complaints arising from Gazprom's cut-off of supply to Poland in 2022.
Gazprom is estimated to be embroiled in multiple legal litigations with a total compensation claim from European companies reaching at least 20.5 billion USD.
This week, Orlen terminated the final contract related to Russian oil and completely stopped importing Russian oil.
Russian oil was previously supplied via the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline to the Orlen refinery in litvinov, Czech Republic under a 12-year contract with Russia's Rosneft. This contract is now out of effect.
Orlen has also renovated litvinov refinery, which previously only processed blended oil according to Russian standards, to be able to process many different types of crude oil, thereby increasing access to global supply.
Orlen stopped importing Russian oil to refineries in Poland and Lithuania in March 2023. However, Orlen's subsidiary Unipetrol in the Czech Republic continues to receive Russian oil under the old contract, with import volumes increasing in 2023.
