Page 7 - EurOil Week 02 2022

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

MOL says Lotos petrol station deal

will underpin Polish growth

POLAND THE acquisition of 417 petrol stations in Poland of its acquisition by PKN Orlen.
is expected to have a mid-term positive annual MOL would pay the purchase price for the
The deal will be Ebitda generation potential of around $70mn for Polish petrol stations partly in cash and partly
financed from available MOL’s consumer services business, MOL said on in assets, managing director Peter Ratatics told
liquidity. January 12 after it signed agreements with PKN journalists after the announcement.
Orlen and Grupa Lotos on the acquisition for a The 144 Hungarian petrol stations it will
price of $610mn. sell to PKN Orlen will include MOL’s recently
The takeover of the petrol stations is “an acquired Lukoil stations, he said, adding that the
excellent fit” for the growth strategy of its con- 41 petrol stations in Slovakia include Slovnaft
sumer services business. The purchase “would and Lukoil brand ones.
provide a basis for future growth” in Poland, in On Wednesday, MOL announced that it
which MOL has had a limited presence, it added. agreed to buy 79 Lukoil petrol stations from
The deal will be financed “from available Norm Benzinkut, which owns the Lukoil brand
liquidity” and will have “no adverse effect on petrol stations.
MOL’s previously communicated dividend pay- In updated guidance after the release of the
ment capacity”, the company said in a statement. Q3 report in November, MOL put full-year
MOL had been tipped to acquire the petrol Ebitda, adjusted for one-offs and the current
stations which Lotos had to part with as a condi- cost of supply, around or above $3.2bn, up from
tion for approval by the European Commission $2.05bn in 2020. ™

PERFORMANCE

European gas prices ease

back from record highs

EUROPE EUROPEAN gas prices have remained volatile In recent days, major European capitals such
in January so far, but they have eased back from as London, Berlin and Paris have enjoyed spring-
Prices have eased record highs in late December as relatively mild like weather. Bloomberg estimates that on New
back following warmer weather sweeping the continent has alleviated Year’s Eve, the mean temperature in north-west
weather and an influx fears of shortages. Europe was almost 12 degrees Celsius, about 9
of LNG. Spot prices at the Dutch TTF hub soared degrees above the 30-year average. Some cities
on December 21 following the flow reversal of were even warmer, with Zurich and Frankfurt
the Yamal-Europe pipeline that normally sends registering a temperature of 13 degrees Celsius.
Russian gas westwards to Europe and the arrival Prices have also fallen recently as US LNG
of colder weather. But temperatures have since exports have risen to a record high. The US
warmed, however, and Europe has begun rein- replaced Qatar as the world’s top LNG exporter
jecting gas back into storage. for the very first time in December, and expec-
The February gas delivery contract at the TTF tations are that it will retain the top spot over
hub ended on January 7 at €83.4 ($95) per MWh, the coming years, at least until Qatar brings on
which though still uncomfortably high for gas stream the next phase of its giant North Field
buyers reliant on stock volumes, was down from LNG development.
€180 per MWh on December 21. Gas is once Certainly, the European gas market is in a far
again being taken out of storage, but at a slower more stable state than it was a few weeks ago. But
rate than during much of December. Data pub- it is not out of the woods just yet. Temperatures
lished by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows are expected to drop to typical seasonal levels in
that EU and UK gas storage facilities were 55% the coming days, which could trigger a rebound
full on January 7. Again, this is less than the usual in gas prices depending on supply levels. Mean-
amount for this time of year, but more than dire while, Russian deliveries remain constrained, for
predictions had suggested. unknown reasons. ™

Week 02 13•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7