PKN Orlen initially assumed that the synergies resulting from the merger with Lotos and PGNiG would reach at least PLN 10 billion within 10 years. Orlen’s executive director for capital investments, Robert Śleszyński, said that in more than a month he would present the announced update of the merger strategy. – We are in dialogue with the Saudi side about a large petrochemical investment in Gdańsk – added Daniel Obajtek, President of Orlen.
Robert Śleszyński, Orlen’s executive director for capital investments, said during a meeting with journalists that “in more than a month we will present an update of the strategy after the merger with Grupa Lotos and PGNiG. – Next, we want to publish a program for achieving synergies in the group for the coming years – he added.
– We will announce the areas where we expect operational and cost synergies. We will want to present a plan for the coming years, the implementation of which we will hold accountable with our shareholders – he pointed out.
Investments in new areas
PKN Orlen initially assumed that the synergies resulting from the merger with Lotos and PGNiG would reach at least PLN 10 billion within 10 years.
These were the initial estimates. This may change. We are looking for synergies with the core business, but also with management and costs – said Orlen’s executive director for capital investments.
Daniel Obajtek, president of PKN Orlen, emphasized that “we want to combine the upstream area in our group in 2023”. He informed that PKN Orlen wants to invest in new areas of activity, based on cooperation with new partners, including joint ventures with the Saudi Aramco group, which is Orlen’s partner in the Gdańsk Refinery.
– We are in dialogue with the Saudi side about a large petrochemical investment in Gdańsk – he said.
President Daniel Obajtek announced that investments of the Orlen group are planned at PLN 36 billion in 2023.
New year, new prices at stations
Wholesale fuel prices in PKN Orlen in the first days of the new year dropped sharply. As a result – despite the increase in the VAT rate on motor fuels from 8 to 23 percent. – at the stations we observe the prices of petrol and diesel at the levels from the last weeks.
On Monday, in response to questions from TVN24, Orlen explained that “the fact that fuel prices at Orlen stations have not changed on January 1, despite the increase in VAT and excise duty, is in line with PKN Orlen’s policy of possible, avoid price shocks.
“The return of the VAT rate to 23% on January 1, 2023, and the increase in the excise duty rate, Orlen has translated into its wholesale prices, so that such rapid changes in retail prices do not hit customers overnight. In the interest of the country’s energy security and the stability of market supply, it is necessary to avoid sudden price changes at petrol stations, as such changes lead to irrational consumer behavior and thus destabilize the production and sales balance and logistics.
UOKiK does not rule out intervention in this case
the office of Competition and Consumer Protection conducts proceedings regarding Orlen’s pricing policy, Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK, announced on Wednesday. Earlier, the office informed that “it does not rule out intervention in this matter”.
On Wednesday, the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, was asked in the parliamentary corridor by Radomir Wit, a TVN24 reporter, whether inspections were carried out regarding Orlen’s pricing policy. – We are conducting proceedings in this regard, we will be happy to present any information tomorrow (Thursday – ed.) – said Chróstny. The press conference is scheduled to start at 11 am. Earlier, UOKiK, in response to TVN24 Biznes’s questions, announced that it was “looking at” PKN Orlen’s actions regarding fuel prices and “does not rule out intervention in this matter”. The Office also wrote that “the President of UOKiK may interfere with the prices applied by undertakings only in specific cases, e.g. if they result from collusion with another entity or entities or abuse of a dominant position by market tycoons. This interference has an indirect dimension, i.e. by eliminating prohibited business practice law.
UOKiK added that “the mere raising or lowering of the price does not constitute an action contrary to the antimonopoly law, especially since the entrepreneur is not legally obliged to set prices based on the cost model”.
Main photo source: PAP/Jakub Kaczmarczyk