Grupa Lotos to invest zl.7 billion by 2012

Most of the funds, zl.6.5 billion, will be designated for the so-called complex technical development program, which should help boost oil processing from 4.8 million tones currently to 10 million by 2012. Lotos wants to purchase only 60% of crude from Russia, while the remainder will be obtained from other sources, such as increasing extraction from beneath the Baltic sea. "We want extraction to increase from 230,000 tones in 2005 to 1 million in 2012," said Pawel Olechnowicz, president of Grupa Lotos. The company also intends to search for oil in other countries, among others in Kazakhstan, most likely in cooperation with PKN Orlen. The company will designate about zl.300 million in developing its network of gas stations. Funds will be obtained from last year's share issue, bank loans and operational activities. (Puls Biznesu, p. 12) M.M.