Iranian NIOC reported on August 14, 2016 that Polands Grupa Lotos bought 2 mln barrels of crude from Iran in a one-off purchase in late June 2016, a first post-sanction cargo of Iranian oil for Poland as the major OPEC producer continues to claw back market share around the world.
The cargo of two million barrels of Iranian oil on board a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) is arrived in the Polish port of Gdansk on August 14, 2016. Since the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, Iran has been working to make a bolder mark on the European market which slipped through its fingers due to the embargo in 2012 The country is currently competing with other Middle Eastern producers, including Saudi Arabia, which have boosted supplies to the Baltic Sea at the expense of Russian oil. Poland, meanwhile, has been working to reduce its dependence on Russian oil imports as Moscow’s tensions with the West have stoked increased energy security fears. Polish Lotos, which now refines mostly Russian oil, said that it is prepared to take oil from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other directions. Poland's Grupa Lotos bought 2 million barrels of crude from Iran in a one-off purchase in June, said director for international affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Mohsen Qamsari, who did not rule out conclusion of long-term deals.
