PKN Orlen announced on Monday that its subsidiary Anwil has decided to resume production of nitrogen fertilisers,.  ‘We are doing everything to make this product available on the Polish market’ stated Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek.

“Despite difficult conditions on the gas market, Anwil is resuming fertiliser production and thus raw CO2. We are doing everything to ensure that this product, used in the medical industry and for food production, becomes available on the Polish market”, Obajtek announced on Twitter.

In its stock exchange release, PKN Orlen stated that despite the difficult macroeconomic conditions, Anwil has decided to resume production of nitrogen in order to guarantee Poland’s food security and health protection.

The Orlen chief executive added that the unprecedented increase in gas prices had hit the fertiliser industry not only in Poland, but across Europe but Anwil, as one of the few companies, had maintained production continuity for an extended period to ensure the availability of fertilisers on the Polish market.

Obajtek also said that the suspension of fertiliser production at Anwil was purely due to business reasons, independent of Orlen Group.

“However, we observe a huge demand for liquefied CO2 and dry ice from the food industry as well as from the medical industry, including transplantation.  Bearing in mind the need to ensure food security in Poland, we have decided to launch fertiliser plants, which will also enable us to restore supplies of raw CO2”, announced the PKN Orlen CEO. He added that the company will take measures to ensure that restrictions resulting from high gas prices have the least possible impact on the Orlen Group.

PKN Orlen also stated that Anwil is not a distributor of CO2, which is a by-product generated during the nitrogen fertiliser production process. Anwil will secure the off take of raw CO2 within the next 48 hours.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński