$400M Polish Oil Trade Collapses Amid Sanctions Whiplash
Poland's state-controlled oil refiner Orlen lost an estimated $400 million in a failed cryptocurrency trade with Venezuela. The company sent around $230 million to Hannon International Middle East DMCC and $100 million to Horizon Global, both based in Dubai. These intermediaries were supposed to facilitate deliveries of Venezuelan crude during a brief window when the US temporarily eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector.
The payments were made in 2023 and early 2024, but the oil never arrived due to the reimposition of strict sanctions by Washington after President Nicolás Maduro failed to meet democratic benchmarks. Investigators found that the funds transferred to the Dubai intermediaries appear to have been converted into cryptocurrencies, effectively vanishing.
Three former Orlen managers were indicted in August 2026 on charges of negligent supervision and face potential prison sentences of up to 25 years. The total damage includes not just the prepayments but also demurrage costs from tankers Orlen had chartered that sat idle with nothing to load.