Orlen taking aggressive steps to buy Unipetrol and MOL

PKN Orlen intends to intensify its plans concerning the consolidation of its oil companies in Central-Eastern Europe. Apart from the capital-technological consolidation with the Lotos Group, Orlen is interested in Unipetrol from the Czech Republic as well as Hungarian concern MOL. "We have informed the Hungarian government that we are willing to purchase shares from the Treasury Ministry. However, the tender has not been announced yet," said Orlen's president Zbigniew Wróbel. He does not exclude the possibility of creating several types of alliances to purchase Unipetrol's shares. "The consolidation process of the regional fuel sector may start even at the end of this year but it will last around two to three years," said Wróbel. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) A.Z.