Orlen SA has signed a 3-year agreement with Equinor ASA under which the latter will supply crude oil from Norway’s Johan Sverdrup field in the Norwegian North Sea to Orlen’s refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania.

Deliveries will begin in September, with annual volumes range from nearly 5 million tonnes to more than 9 million tonnes, depending on Orlen’s requirements and individual refinery operating needs, Orlen and Equinor said in separate Aug. 20 releases.

The agreement—which secures Orlen Norwegian crude supply while allowing the company to adjust volumes to market conditions and operating requirements—will cover nearly one-quarter of Orlen’s total crude feedstock demand across its refining system, the companies said.

While Johan Sverdrup forms the basis of the supply agreement, the contract will also allow Equinor to supply crude grades produced from other fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

Orlen’s refining system in Poland includes its 16.3-million-tonnes/year (tpy) refinery in Płock and 10.5-million tpy refinery at Gdańsk; the 10.4-million tpy Mažeikiai refinery in Lithuania; and 3.3-million tpy and 5.4-million tpy refineries, respectively, at Kralupy nad Vltavou and Litvínov in the Czech Republic.

“Stable sources of crude oil from Norway … may account for up to one-quarter of our annual demand,” said Ireneusz Fąfara, president of Orlen’s management board, describing the agreement with Equinor as part of Orlen’s broader efforts to strengthen supply security amid crude market volatility and geopolitical risks affecting other transportation routes.

For Equinor, the crude supply contract expands the two companies’ existing relationship—including cooperation on NCS production activities, natural gas supplies to Poland, and reduced-carbon projects—as well as generally demonstrates security of European crude supplies during uncertain times, said Irene Rummelhoff, Equinor’s executive vice-president of marketing, midstream and processing.

Neither Orlen nor Equinor revealed further details regarding commercial terms of the new crude-supply agreement.

Johan Sverdrup

The NCS’ largest producing oil field and accounting for about one-third of Norway’s total crude production, Johan Sverdrup lies on the Utsira High (Utsirahøyden) in the central part of the North Sea, 65 km northeast of Sleipner field in water depths of 115 m.

The main reservoir contains oil in Upper Jurassic intra-Draupne sandstone. The reservoir depth is 1,900 m. The quality of the main reservoir is excellent with very high permeability. The remaining oil resources are in sandstone in the Upper Triassic Statfjord Group and Middle to Upper Jurassic Vestland Group, as well as in spiculites in the Upper Jurassic Viking Group.

Equinor is operator of Johan Sverdrup (42.62%) with partners Aker BP ASA (31.57%), Petoro AS (17.36%), and TotalEnergies SE (8.44%).