Orlen "was expecting" Yukos to cut oil supplies

Yukos supplied the Płock and Gdańsk refineries with almost 40% of oil processed there through its partner company Petroval. "Petroval has not been fulfilling its declarations since December. We made up for oil shortages by spot supplies," said Igor Chalupec, Orlen president on Friday during a press conference, adding that "Although spot supplies are sometimes more expensive than those arranged earlier, we nevertheless managed to make some savings in the last few months." Grupa Lotos spokesman Marcin Zachowicz issued a statement on Friday in which both Lotos and Orlen assured their clients they would not be affected by supply shortages. Stopping oil supplies by Yukos raised the question of the reliability of oil supplies. Some analysts say Poland is too dependent on supplies from Russia, but others, like Maciej Gierej, a member of PKN Orlen supervisory board, argue that, "Poland is dependent on Russian oil because of its low price as compared to oil from other countries." It is not know when, or if, Yukos will recommence its supplies. Although no reason has been given for the cut in oil supplies, one may speculate that the reason may be political and be a tit-for-tat move in response to Poland's involvement in Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" (Puls Biznesu, pp. 2, 8-9; Parkiet, p. 3) D.W.