Page 5 - Euroil Week 28 2020

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil
stations in Poland — some 80% of Lotos’s net- work — and to supply these with motor fuels; sell Lotos’s 50% stake in the jet fuel-marketing joint venture with BP; continue to supply the joint venture and give it access to storage at two airports in Poland; make available up to 80,000 tonnes of jet fuel per year to competitors in Czechia via an annual open tender; and, divest two bitumen production plants in Poland and supply the purchaser with up to 500,000 tonnes of bitumen and heavy residues annually.
“We can approve the proposed acquisition of Lotos by PKN Orlen because the extensive commitments o ered by PKN Orlen will ensure that the relevant Polish markets remain open and competitive and that the merger will not lead to higher prices or less choice for fuels and related products for businesses and consumers in Poland and Czechia,” the Commission Vice President for Competition Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
PKN Orlen’s business extends quite far beyond Poland. e company owns two re n- eries in Poland as well as re neries in Lithuania and Czechia and is active on the wholesale and retail markets for re ned oil products in Poland, Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lith- uania and Slovakia.
It also has activities in the upstream explora- tion, development and production of crude oil and natural gas. PKN Orlen is also active in the petrochemicals market.
Grupa Lotos is smaller. Apart from owning Poland’s only other re nery, Lotos is active on the wholesale and retail markets for re ned oil products, mostly in Poland but also in Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. It is also active in the upstream exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas as
well as in the petrochemicals market.
PKN Orlen’s turnover came in at PLN111bn (€24.8bn) last year; Lotos’s earnings were
PLN29.5bn.
e merger will proceed with PKN Orlen rst
taking over a 33% stake in Lotos, the state assets ministry said. at will be followed by a purchase o er of a further 33%. PKN Orlen could eventu- ally buy the full stake in Lotos.
PGNiG takeover
PKN Orlen has provided little detail about its takeover of PGNiG, save that the rst stage of the process will be negotiations with the State Treasury, which holds a 71.88% stake in gas company. e merger could take around a year to complete, PKN Orlen’s CEO Daniel Obajtek told specialist website Energetyka24.
e completion of the merger “will be pos- sible, among others, a er receiving appropriate corporate approvals and approvals of the com- petition protection authorities regarding the concentration,” PKN Orlen also said.
at appears likely, given the size of the two companies. PKN Orlen’s turnover came in at PLN111bn (€24.8bn) last year. PGNiG – which is also listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange – posted earnings of PLN42.2bn.
Following the merger with Lotos and if tak- ing over PGNiG is completed successfully, PKN Orlen’s turnover could jump to some PLN200bn, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a press conference.
PGNiG is an oil and gas exploration and production company with assets both at home and abroad, such as in Norway, from where it is going to source gas to ll the planned Baltic Pipe, a project crucial for Warsaw as it works to end its dependence on gas imports from Russia.™
Week 28 16•July•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5