Statoil planning $500 million investment in gas stations

The Norwegian company Statoil, which already has 105 gas stations in Poland, plans to open a further 13 stations by the end of this year, and by 2005 plans to have opened a total of 220. Statoil's investment so far is $220 million and will rise to $500 million by 2005. Last year the company sold 400,000 tonnes of fuel; domestic refineries provided 50% of this. "We will build our own fuel warehouses," said Statoil operations manager Andrzej Magrys. Across Europe, Statoil has 2,200 gas stations. Norway is the second largest oil exporter in the world after Saudi Arabia. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 6) M.M.