Poland ready for Russian oil ban, says minister

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland is prepared for a Russian ban on oil sales to countries implementing a price cap, the climate minister said on Thursday, with the country having cut its intake of Russian crude and secured alternative supplies from producers such as Saudi Arabia.

The Group of Seven (G7) nations and allies including Poland this month agreed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude. In response, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations abiding by the cap.

Poland has been gradually reducing its intake of Russian oil, and after the start of the war in Ukraine stopped buying seaborne Russian oil, top refiner PKN Orlen said. The company says it has secured alternative oil supplies via its partnership with Saudi Aramco.

"We are prepared to process all types of crude oil, this is our advantage," Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa told a news conference.

Moskwa also said that she believed the next EU sanctions package would include a decision on banning Russian oil.

Poland is seeking German support to slap EU sanctions on the Polish-German section of the Druzhba crude pipeline so Warsaw can abandon a deal to buy Russian oil next year without paying penalties, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters in November.

Poland and Germany promised in spring to try to end imports of Russian oil via Druzhba's northern leg by the end of year, but Orlen remains tied to its contract with Russian oil and gas company Tatneft

"We believe that the next sanctions package will include a decision on oil," Moskwa said. "The sanctions cancel the contract with Tatneft."

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; Writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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