“Together with the Saudis, we are analysing to create a petrochemical complex, which, I believe, will be built in Gdańsk”, said PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek. He added that on gas issues, the company is in talks with partners from national European companies.

During the Economic Forum in Krynica, the president of PKN Orlen said that the directions of the energy transformation have already been defined. He explained that the company is making further acquisitions in order to be able to carry it out and remain competitive. Obajtek pointed out that the company had attracted the world’s largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, to Poland.

“And this is not only a matter of acquiring oil, but also a matter of joint investment in the petrochemical area. Today, together with the Saudis, we are looking at a petrochemical complex, which I think will be built in Gdańsk. We need to transform the fuel transformation into a petrochemical transformation, because today a developed petrochemistry is the second leg of any economy”, he pointed out.

Orlen has negotiated a long-term contract with Saudi Aramco to supply between 200,000 and 337,000 barrels of oil per day. The target level of Arab oil supplies should reach 400 thousand barrels per day this year. Orlen estimates that these supplies could satisfy up to 45 % of the total demand of the entire Orlen Group after the acquisition of Lotos, in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

Daniel Obajtek acknowledged that the size of the company makes it easier to form the right alliances and attract the right business partners.

“This is what we see, for example in gas issues. We have been talking to partners from national European companies in terms of joint business. Not in terms of taking us over, not in terms of minority stakes, not in terms of market dominance, but they are talking to us about equal, partnership business in Poland. This size of the company allows us to have such talks”, he said.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński