"As far as I know, the company [Orlen Lietuva] itself intends to abandon [Russian] crude oil in the near future," Simonyte told reporters when asked if it was realistic for Lithuania to stop all of its energy imports from Russia. "It's up to the company to decide because it is Orlen that is buying [crude], not the state."
"As far as I know, the company is very close to the stage when it will no longer be buying Russian oil and will no longer be using it for refining," she added.
Orlen Lietuva Deputy CEO Audrius Daugnora has said recently that it would not be difficult for the company to stop refining Russian oil, because it has been diversifying its crude oil sources since 2014.
In recent years, Russian oil accounted for about two-thirds of crude processed by the refinery, but now "the numbers are turning the other way round", according to the official.
Orlen said in early March that it was intensifying crude oil supplies to its refineries from alternative routes and had agreed with Saudi Aramco on the purchase of five additional North Sea oil tankers, with some of the crude to go the refinery in Mazeikiai, in northwestern Lithuania.
The Polish group said last year that it that was buying 57 percent of crude for its refineries from Russia under long-term supply contracts, another 8 percent from Saudi Arabia and the rest on the spot market.