PKN Orlen Group releases investment strategy for 2017 to 2021

PKN Orlen, Poland’s largest oil and gas producer and distributor, on Friday revealed its investment strategy for 2017 to 2021, noting that oil market instability had played a part in its decision to hold off, or now, on securing new mining acquisitions. “At this stage we are not working on a specific project. We will gradually work on them and if we see something interesting, we will communicate [the news],” said Orlen president Sławomir Jędrzejczyk. He was speaking directly to the Polish press. Jędrzejczyk emphasized that the tendency of the group to make decisions on acquisitions is related to the situation on the oil market. Currently, predictions about the price of oil have greatly fluctuated. “Indeed, we had the principle of one transaction per year, but that does not mean that in 2017 such a transaction will take place. Uncertainty in the oil market [causes us] to no present today our [complete] strategy for the years 2017-2021. However, [during] this period we envision that the average level of investment will amount to PLN 5.4 billion in the years 2017 and 2018,” he added. More specifically, the company said that the average investment in the downstream segment is expected to reach PLN 3.7 billion in the years 2017 and 2018. In the retail segment, investment will be between 0.6 billion to 0.5 billion for 2017, while in the corporate center, between PLN 0.2 billion and 0.3 billion will be invested during 2017. Investment for development purposes and for replacement of infrastructure will amount to PLN 1.8 billion (for each segment). In terms of specific country investment, for 2017 and 2018, 60 percent will be implemented in Poland, 24 percent in Czechia, eight percent in Canada, five percent in Lithuania and three percent in Germany.