Lotos mulls purchase of Neste's gas stations in Poland

Polish oil refiner Grupa Lotos SA is one of the parties that has shown interest in buying the 106 gas stations in Poland being sold by Finnish oil refiner Neste Oil Corp., Mariusz Machajewski, deputy head of the Gdansk-based company told the newspaper Parkiet. He said that the Polish company has already started looking into the business. Market analysts estimate the value of the fuel stations at up to PLN200 million (US$63 million).
A bigger sector player PKN Orlen SA, which operates 1,758 fuel stations in the country, said in July it was examining the purchase of the fuel station network, and could be competing for the business with Lotos. Approached by the daily Parkiet for comment, PKN’s spokeswoman Beata Karpinska said the company is currently monitoring the fuel market to identify opportunities for acquisition. Lotos, which has 368 stations across Poland, will become the second largest fuel company in the country if it succeeds in taking control of Neste’s local network, ahead of Royal Dutch Shell and BP plc. At present, Lotos has 368 stations across Poland.
 
Neste Oil is a petroleum products marketing company with a network of 1,145 stations, 326 of which operate in Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. (October 12, 2012)