PKN Orlen wants to be the number two player on the Slovak retail market

PKN Orlen assumes that it will ultimately become the second largest operator of petrol stations in Slovakia, announced CEO Daniel Obajtek.

"We are currently the fourth player in Slovakia, and we want to be the second, I think it will be soon," said Obajtek.

As part of the European Commission's remedial measures related to the acquisition of Lotos Group, PKN Orlen will buy 41 Slovak stations from the MOL Group, currently operating under the Slovnaft brand. In conjunction with the 29 already existing Orlen stations in Slovakia, this will give a network of 70 stations.

Meanwhile, in 2019, when PKN Orlen was launching the first stations in Slovakia, the president of Unipetrol - the Czech subsidiary of the concern - Tomasz Wiatrak announced that ultimately PKN Orlen would like to have a network of at least 100 facilities in Slovakia.

The head of Orlen added that the company will allocate the surplus from the exchange of stations with the MOL Group (MOL will pay USD 610 million for 417 Lotos stations, and PKN Orlen for 185 MOL Group stations USD 259 million) for the purchase of additional stations in our region. However, he did not want to identify specific markets. He only noted that negotiations for the purchase of over 100 stations are currently being finalized.

The PKN Orlen Group manages six refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, and is also active in Poland and Canada. Its consolidated sales revenues reached PLN 86.2 billion in 2020. The company has been listed on the WSE since 1999.