Plugging up the pipeline
Petroval, the Geneva-based trading arm of the oil giant, has told clients that deliveries will be suspended. Company chief executive John Lush said: "Over the past two days, we have informed our clients that we are forced to do so due to a force majeure." A force majeure is a legal clause that allows a company to miss shipments because of reasons beyond its control.
According to Lush, deliveries were halted because recently renationalized Yuganskneftgaz, Yukos' main supplier, has stopped fulfilling its obligations to Petroval.
The suspension has put oil companies such as Poland's PKN Orlen and Hungary's MOL in a difficult position, as the companies will have to find alternative suppliers. PKN Orlen receives 40 percent of its oil from Yukos, while MOL buys 60 percent of its crude from the company.
Last Friday, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski announced that he would bring up the topic when he meets this week with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who is scheduled to visit Poland on January 27 for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
However Fitch Ratings, an international rating agency, believes Central European refiners will be largely unaffected by the suspension. Most refiners in the CE region have access to non-Russian crude oil through alternative pipelines. PKN Orlen could replace all its crude oil imports from Russia with North Sea oil through terminals in Gdansk, and MOL could import oil from the Adriatic Sea, it says.
The agency also reckons that other Russian crude suppliers would be willing to raise their pipeline exports to Central Europe.
According to Lush, deliveries were halted because recently renationalized Yuganskneftgaz, Yukos' main supplier, has stopped fulfilling its obligations to Petroval.
The suspension has put oil companies such as Poland's PKN Orlen and Hungary's MOL in a difficult position, as the companies will have to find alternative suppliers. PKN Orlen receives 40 percent of its oil from Yukos, while MOL buys 60 percent of its crude from the company.
Last Friday, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski announced that he would bring up the topic when he meets this week with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who is scheduled to visit Poland on January 27 for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
However Fitch Ratings, an international rating agency, believes Central European refiners will be largely unaffected by the suspension. Most refiners in the CE region have access to non-Russian crude oil through alternative pipelines. PKN Orlen could replace all its crude oil imports from Russia with North Sea oil through terminals in Gdansk, and MOL could import oil from the Adriatic Sea, it says.
The agency also reckons that other Russian crude suppliers would be willing to raise their pipeline exports to Central Europe.
