MOL eyes up southern Poland
One of the strategic aims of the Hungarian fuel concern MOL is to enter the Polish market. As it would now seem that its chance of getting a stake in the Gdańsk refinery is diminishing alongside the strong competition it is facing to get shares in PKN Orlen, then the company must consider other options. One of these is to create a network of filling stations in Poland.
The partner in this undertaking would be the Slovenian Slovnaft in which the Hungarians have a 36.2 percent stake. Slovnaft already has three petrol stations in Poland and last year imported more than 200,000 tons of fuel to this country.
Peter Gelačik, MD of Slovnaft Polska claims that an analysis has been completed which envisages opening around eighty petrol stations in southern Poland and a decision on whether to go ahead or not will be made in the next few weeks.
He says that it is likely to be a joint venture between MOL and Slovnaft although the flagging would be for the Slovenian operator.
Not all the stations would be new built. Some would be bought and others operated through franchising.Peter Gelačik says that the filling stations would be located along the axis of Wrocław to Rzeszów. The hardest plots of land to be will be in the Silesian province around the city of Katowice. To the east of Kraków however the situation is much more promising. It is believed that 55 — 57 percent of the stations are operated by independent Polish companies whilst in the Carpathian province in south east Poland this figure reaches seventy percent.
Any decision on whether or not to go ahead with this ambitious plan will depend on the outcome of the privatisation of Rafineria Gdańska and the possible purchase of shares in PKN Orlen.