PERN to build four fuel tanks for Saudi-owned Aramco. Storage in the name of supply security

PERN has signed a multi-year fuel-storage agreement with Aramco Fuels Poland – the wholesale company owned by Saudi giant Saudi Aramco – covering several fuel depots in Poland. Under the deal, four new storage tanks are to be built by 2028. The added capacity is intended to strengthen the resilience of Poland's national fuel system at a time when the directions of crude and fuel supply are shifting faster than ever.

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27 june 2026   |   11:35   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

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The agreement was signed for PERN by chief executive Daniel Świętochowski and deputy CEO Marcin Giemza, and for Aramco Fuels Poland (AFP) by chief executive Jarosław Kobus and deputy CEOs Michał Kawczyński and Mohammed Al Kaki. According to both companies, AFP's additional storage capacity within the PERN system will allow better planning of logistics operations and management of mandatory (strategic) fuel stocks, while increasing supply stability and improving the system's resilience to changes in demand and logistical disruption. The contract extends the two parties' existing cooperation in fuel logistics and storage.

PERN, for readers outside Poland, is the state-owned operator of the country's crude-oil and fuel pipelines, its network of storage depots and the Naftoport marine terminal in Gdańsk – in effect the backbone of Poland's fuel logistics.

Four tanks by 2028

The core of the agreement is the construction by PERN of four new tanks at several fuel depots across the country, for completion in 2028. For AFP this means above all greater flexibility in its supply chain; for the market as a whole, it is another element in securing the continuity of fuel supply.

PERN's chief executive Daniel Świętochowski stressed that the contract rests on a shared understanding of the Polish market's needs and on responsibility for continuity of supply, and that expanding storage infrastructure will increase the system's operational capacity at a time when fuel infrastructure matters ever more for national energy security. AFP's chief executive Jarosław Kobus, in turn, pointed to the long-standing, partner-like character of the two firms' cooperation and their good knowledge of the market, thanks to which – in his assessment – the expanded capacity will allow them to respond more effectively to the needs of Poland's fuel market.

Why a Saudi company is storing fuel in Poland

To grasp the significance of the deal, it helps to recall what its second signatory is. Aramco Fuels Poland is a Polish company wholly owned by Saudi Aramco – the world's largest oil producer. The entity was created by carving out the wholesale business of the former Lotos Paliwa, sold to the Saudis as one of the remedies imposed by the European Commission when Orlen merged with the Lotos Group in 2022. Today AFP handles the wholesale sale of finished fuels using a nationwide network of storage depots.

The Saudi presence in the Polish fuel market runs deeper still. Saudi Aramco also holds a 30% stake in the Gdańsk refinery (Rafineria Gdańska; the remaining 70% belongs to Orlen) and, under long-term contracts agreed at the time of the merger, supplies a substantial share of the crude – up to around 45% of the integrated Orlen Group's requirements. For a player of that scale, flexible storage capacity of its own in Poland is not a convenience but a condition of operating smoothly in a market where a third of the fuel consumed is imported.

Storage in the shadow of the Strait of Hormuz

The communiqué's phrase about "changing directions of supply" takes on a very concrete meaning in current conditions. In the spring and summer of 2026, escalating tensions in the Middle East and intermittent disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world's most important oil chokepoints – forced exporters and buyers alike to seek alternative routes. As market analysts have noted, Saudi crude was routed in part via the Petroline (East-West) pipeline to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, bypassing the sensitive strait.

In such an environment, expanding domestic storage capacity becomes a form of insurance policy. The more fuel that can be held within the country, the less sensitive the system is to temporary supply shocks and to disruption at distant points in the supply chain. It should be stressed that this is an interpretation of the market context, not the companies' official justification – in their statement, both confined themselves to the language of resilience and security of supply. The direction of travel, however, is clear: fuel storage has ceased to be solely a logistical matter and has become an element of national security.

Part of a wider PERN programme

The AFP deal fits into a broader investment programme that PERN is pursuing in storage and logistics infrastructure. In March, the company signed a contract for a 33,000-cubic-metre tank at the Koluszki fuel depot, and it soon plans a similar contract for a 33,000-cubic-metre tank at Kawice. A procurement is also under way for a further tank at Koluszki – this time of 24,000 cubic metres, for petrol. Seven tanks with a combined capacity of nearly 250,000 cubic metres are in the design phase at various depots around the country; PERN aims to select contractors for them this year.

In parallel, the company is modernising its transmission infrastructure and increasing the flexibility of its fuel-transport system. In May it commissioned a bulk rail terminal at Nowa Wieś Wielka, allowing 36 tank wagons to be loaded or unloaded simultaneously. The investment doubled that depot's capacity and made the site near Bydgoszcz one of the largest and most modern fuel-logistics hubs in the country.

Drones over critical infrastructure

One thread deserves separate attention – it appears almost in passing in the statement, yet carries growing weight for Pomerania and the sector as a whole: PERN is investing in solutions to support the security of its infrastructure, including counter-drone (anti-UAV) systems at its fuel depots. This is a response to a real and, in recent years, mounting problem. Fuel depots, pipelines and terminals are critical infrastructure, while uncrewed aircraft have become a tool both for reconnaissance and for potential sabotage. Folding counter-drone protection into a storage-expansion programme shows that energy security is now understood broadly: not only as the availability of fuel, but also as the physical resilience of the infrastructure in which it is held.

The four tanks for Aramco are therefore only one piece of a larger puzzle – built on the conviction that, in an unsettled geopolitical environment, the strength of a fuel system is determined not only by where the crude comes from, but also by how much fuel a country can safely store at home.

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