Hellenic Petroleum (Hel.pe) group has reportedly penned an agreement, in principle, foreseeing a hike in crude oil shipments from Saudi Arabia, sources close to the petro-chemical concern said on Tuesday.
The report was first carried by Reuters, which cited one of two sources.
Saudi crude accounted for 8 percent of Hel.Pe’s imports in 2021, a distant fifth after Kazakhstan, Iraq, Russia and Egypt.
The partially state-owned and ATHEX-listed refinery group, one of the largest in southeast Europe, purchased 2.5 million tons of Russian crude in 2021, or 18 percent of its annual imports for the year.
Company officials have said Hel.Pe can replace Russian crude with shipments from the Middle East, if necessary, and amid reports that Western sanctions have started to negatively affect the flow of Russian energy exports.
