Royal Dutch Shell hopes to double its network as part of expansion plans

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell wants to double the number of its petrol stations in Poland to around 400 by 2007, the head of the group's operations for central and eastern Europe said yesterday. Shell, which has invested $330 million in gas stations since 1994, now controls 203 outlets accounting for around 6% of the retail fuel market. "For us Poland is the most important market in this part of Europe and our plans for the next five years include boosting the number of outlets to 400," Shell's Istvan Kapitany told a news conference in Katowice. "This could be achieved through both the construction of new stations as well as takeovers of existing networks," he added, but gave no details of the cost of the expansion plan. (Reuters)