The merger of PKN Orlen and Lotos Group by the middle of this year is real.

PKN President Orlen Daniel Obietek said on Radio Gdańsk that PKN Orlen's connection to the Lotos Group was real until mid this year.

On Monday the guest of Radio Gdańsk was the president of PKN Orlen Danel Obietek, who admitted on the air that the PKN Orlen connection to Lotos was real until mid this year.

"We have been through the worst. We have a transaction structure, we have a decision by the committee, we have a structure and we have partners in countermeasures, and we cannot extend this process. We'll do everything we can to make it happen in the middle of the year. This is very important for our investment processes and for our partners, especially SaudiAramco," said Radio Gdańsk Obietek on the air and added that this is not just a question of the assets of the refinery itself, but also of other contracts: the development of petrochemicals and 20 million oil supplies to the region. PKN President Orlen also stressed that if this merger did not happen, there would be no Lotus in a few years.

"We are waiting for the European Commission's decision on our partners. The change of ownership of part of the gas station network will take place after half a year, as will the takeover of the Lotos Group. On the one hand, we sell stations, on the other hand, we obtain about 200 stations in the region with a similar operating profit. For the remaining amount, we negotiate another acquisition and increase of detail in the region. It's hard to have stations near the station and double logistics. (...) We have done this so far, which was completely pointless," said Obietek and stressed that cost optimization has an impact on the price of fuels.

The President also mentioned the criticism of the opposition to MOL. "Or they do it on a premeditated basis, or there are symptoms. The same people recently spoke of the need to privatise Lotus and were looking for partners when it came to Russians. Now these politicians are shouting about zero-emissionism. I would ask them, how do they imagine the future of Lotus, refineries? Within ten years, 30 percent of the refineries were extinguished, fuel consumption is decreasing" - explained Radia Gdańsk Obietek.

President Obietek stressed that the chances of survival only have refineries, which join the petrochemical industry. "We have a duty before the economy". "There have recently been screams that I am taking over Energy. Today, the same politicians did not apologize, seeing the results of Energi. Today, Energa has capital to build a gas plant in Ostrołęka. Soon she will be deciding about the gas power plant in Gdańsk. How would she have had the capital if Orlen had not been behind her?", asked the president of the company.

According to the decisions announced in mid-January, Saudi Aramco is expected to buy thirty percent stake in the Lotus refinery, Hungarian MOL – 417 Lotus fuel stations, and Unimot – fuel bases. PKN Orlen thus implements the merger conditions imposed by the European Commission. At the same time, the company signed contracts with the Saudis: for oil supplies, cooperation in research and development, and joint analyses of investments in the field of petrochemicals.

PKN President Orlen also commented on Radio Gdańsk's reduction of VAT on fuel to 8 percent. After reducing VAT on fuel, the average price of a litre of petrol at stations is PLN 5.19 and diesel – PLN 5.24.

"The fuel reduction on the one hand is a strong response of the government, and on the other is also the actions of Orlen. It's a matter of increasing production capacity for refineries. When we don't have a fuel mob, the refineries are more loaded, which affects the price. If it were further what was in 2015, where almost 50% of diesel was poured out to Poland outside the financial system, today the fuel would cost PLN 9 and we would reduce it to PLN 8," said Obietek and added that the effects had resulted in a joint action with the government in the event of a tax reduction in December. "Now the decision of Prime Minister Morawiecki to reduce VAT from 23 to 8 percent results in the fact that today we have fuel after about PLN 5.20. Although they were already one of the cheaper in Europe, they are now the cheapest, which has a big impact on the whole economy," explained Obietek.

Written by Krzysztof Wójcik/PAP