German press rumours that Orlen will sell off its network of stations there

The newspaper quoted a person closely linked to the company and among the bidders it mentioned French Total and Russian Lukoil. "Selling [the gas stations] obviously comes into play. Such a scenario is envisaged by the company's strategy. Our analysis indicates that carrying out this transaction now would cause the company to incur losses. Due to this we are focusing on restructuring the network," said Dawid Piekarz, spokesman of PKN Orlen. Rafał Salwa, an independent analyst, claims that the fate of the gas stations will be decided by the new management, which might delay the disposal. He went on to say that Orlen should instead focus on CEE markets, rather than the much more competitive German market. (Puls Biznesu, p. 12) M.M.