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Location: Płock, Masovia, Poland

Founded: September 7th, 1999

Key People:

Ireneusz Fąfara (President & CEO)

Wojciech Popiołek (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

Employees: 64,494

More About The Manufacturer:[]

The firm was created through the merger of two state-run petrochemical firms: C.P.N. (Centrala Produktów Naftowych), Communist Poland's petroleum retail monopoly and Petrochemia Płock, the state firm in charge of the oil refineries in Płock, the largest complex of its kind in Poland. After the merger of CPN and Petrochemia Płock in 1999, the company was renamed Polski Koncern Naftowy (PKN), with Orlen added several months later as the consortium's brand name. The new name is derived from Orl- for "orzeł" (Polish: eagle) and it's adjective "orli", and -en for "energia" (Polish: energy).

After losses in 2000 and 2001 the fund returned 25% in 2002. Until July 2003, it grew by nearly one-third since March and in total the fund was up by about 60% since the start of 1994.

In 2003 PKN Orlen had the chance to acquire 500 filling stations in Northern Germany from BP under premise of an anti-competition rule when BP took over Aral. As of 2007 PKN Orlen has 581 filling stations in Germany (484 under the Star brand, 58 under the Orlen brand and 29 under a supermarket brand).

In January 2003 PKN Orlen and MOL signed a Memorandum of Understanding whereby they agreed with intention to initiate co-operation in the Central and Eastern European oil sector. They hoped that the collaboration would allow them both to benefit from the synergies and to compete more effectively in the global competition. In Jly 2003 the Croatian INA refinery was sold for $505 million to PKN Orlen´s competitor, the Hungarian oil company MOL. This strengthen MOL´s position in the battle for control of Central Europeans and Balkan fuel markets.

Furthermore, PKN Orlen was involved in merger talks with the MOL Group in 2005. If merged, the two firms would have created a regional giant, and controlled much of Central Europe's oil industry. However, the planned merger failed due to high politicization. Following the dropped merger plans, PKN Orlen bought a majority stake in Czech Unipetrol. During May 2006, the company announced its largest investment ever when it took over a majority share of 84.3% of the largest company of Lithuania, Mažeikių Nafta. It was partly bought from Yukos (53.7%) and partly from the Lithuanian government (30.6%) in December. Earlier on 12 October a fire damaged the Mažeikių refinery, which caused a loss about $75 million. With the completion of the takeover, PKN Orlen became Central Europe's largest company.

In 2007 the unit of Polish oil group PKN Orlen PKNA.WA and Dowry Chemicals bought a synthetic rubber company Kaucuk from the Czech oil group Unipetrol UNPEsp.PR. The sale was part of a drive-by Unipetrol to divest non-core assets and to focus on petrochemical, oil refinery and fuel retailing business.

In 2010 PKN Orlen had reported revenue of $28.8 billion. Next year it was the largest fuel retailer in Poland with over 2000 locations. The company ran the most advanced and second-largest complex for terephthalic acid production in Europe.

In 2013 PKN Orlen and Klaipedos Nafta oil terminal negotiated the co-operation on a new pipeline supported by the Lithuanian government. In order to establish the company in Canada and to become an oil producer, PKN Orlen bought the oil and gas company TriOil Resources Ltd for $169 million in September 2013. After its first foreign expansion, the company acquired Birchill Exploration Ltd due to double its production in May 2014.

In 2019 PKN Orlen sponsored Wiliams Racing and driver Robert Kubica in Formula One with 100 million PLN. After Kubica's move to Alfa Romeo Racing in 2020, the Polish petrol retailer became the title sponsor of the team. Today in iRacing, the PKN Orlen is definitely quite with the sim but only with the F1 cars that carry the PKN Orlen paint scheme.

At the end of 2019, PKN Orlen and PZU established the "Sigma Bis" media agency.

PKN Orlen has been implementing a development strategy since 2018, which involves transforming the company into a multi-energy and commercial group. In April 2020, Orlen acquired 80% of Energa shares, and on 14 July 2020 announced that it obtained permission the European Commission's for the takeover of Grupa Lotos, first announced in 2018. On 1 August 2022, Orlen finalised the merger with Lotos.

In November 2020, PKN Orlen purchased 65% of the shares of the financially troubled newsagents chain Ruch SA. On 7 December 2020 Orlen signed an agreement to acquire 100% of shares in the media and press company "Polska Press sp. z o.o." and the transaction was carried out on 1 March 2021. This decision was met with criticism from Polish Ombudsman, Adam Bodnar, who expressed his concern about the risk to freedom of speech that this takeover poses as PKN Orlen is a state-owned company and the constitutional right to press freedom excludes the possibility of political influence on the press, even an indirect one.

In December 2020, PKN Orlen bought an agricultural biogas plant Bioenergy Project, which it will transform into a biomethane plant. To secure supplies, the company Biozec, responsible for the sale and distribution of thermal energy supplied by the biogas plant, was also acquired. In 2021, Orlen bought 4 wind farms: in February, the Kanin farm with a capacity of 20 MW, and in March, another three with a total capacity of 89.4 MW.

On 14 July 2020, PKN Orlen announced its intention to take over PGNiG, and on 10 May 2021, it submitted a takeover application to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. In October 2022, shareholders of PGNiG approved the company's takeover by PKN Orlen, this came after PKN Orlen Shareholders had done the same.

In 2020, the company announced its plans to become emission-neutral by 2050 becoming the first oil company from Central Europe to do so. In order to achieve this goal, by 2030, Orlen aims to reduce CO2 emissions from its current refining and petrochemical assets by 20% and emissions from power generation by 33% CO2/MWh.

In June 2021, PKN Orlen opened its first Orlen w ruchu standalone convenience store in Warsaw, competing in this segment with Carrefour Express, Circle K and Żabka. In September 2021, the company entered the parcel locker sector with the launch of Orlen Paczka in co-operation with Poczta Polska.

In December 2022, PKN Orlen entered the Hungarian market with the takeover of 143 petrol stations from Hungary's MOL in a deal related to the acquisition of 410 petrol stations in Poland by MOL under an agreement between Orlen and Grupa Lotos. The sale was the result of the European Commission requiring PKN Orlen to divest its assets in order to approve the company's acquisition of Grupa Lotos in accordance with EU competition law.

In March 2023, PKN Orlen began to sponsor the Stadion im. Kazimierza Górskiego, located opposite the Orlen Arena in Płock. In the same month, Ukrainian oil company Ukrnafta signed a contract with PKN Orlen to allow the latter to export petrochemical products to Ukraine.

On 3 July 2023, the company changed its name from PKN Orlen to Orlen S.A., to reflect its diversification from fossil fuels. In September 2023, the European Commission approved the takeover by Orlen Group of the consumer retail division of the Austrian oil trading company Doppler-Gruppe [de], which operates 266 filling stations in Austria under the Turmöl [de] discount brand.

In August 2023, the company's Supervisory Board conditionally approved an investment in an off-shore wind farm located on the Baltic Sea. The joint project between Orlen and Northland Power is aimed at achieving the company’s goal of generating 9 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. The Baltic Power farm, located about 23 km off the coast, will consist of 76 wind turbines with a capacity of 15 MW each, providing energy to over 1.5 million households upon completion in 2026.

In December 2023, the Polish government approved the construction of 24 new small modular reactor (SMR) units in six sites across the country. Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), a joint venture between Orlen and chemicals company Synthos, plans to deploy Poland's first small reactors by 2030.

PKN Orlen has sponsored the Polish Athletic Association, the Polish Volleyball Association, the Polish Olympic and Paralympic Committees, and various Polish motorsport competitors such as Bartosz Zmarzlik, Jakub Przygoński, Bartek Marszałek, Grupa Żelazny and Wojtek Bógdał.

In 2019, PKN Orlen sponsored Williams Racing and driver Robert Kubica in Formula One with €10 million. After Kubica's move to Alfa Romeo Racing in a reserve driver role in 2020, the Polish petrol retailer became the co-title sponsor of the team as Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen in 2020 and 2021 and as Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen in 2022. In January 2023, PKN Orlen signed a multi-year agreement with Scuderia AlphaTauri as a principal partner. In November 2023, the company became an official sponsor of the ski jumping hill in Oberstdorf, Germany, presently known as ORLEN Arena Oberstdorf.

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