Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Poland’s state-controlled refiner, Orlen, lost $230 million on a Venezuelan crude deal the moment it wired the money with no collateral and no bank guarantee. Orlen’s Swiss trading arm signed a $345 million contract with Dubai-based Hannon International on November 29, 2023, for six million barrels of Venezuelan crude, and sent the $230 million advance within five days, after Orlen’s Swiss-unit chief, Samer Awad, met Hannon’s 25-year-old founder on a yacht at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Formula 1 weekend. US sanctions had locked Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, out of dollar banking, so the advance moved…
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