The listed oil and petrol giant, which owns Mazeikiu Nafta, a major Lithuanian refinery, said it will spend EUR 200 million over the next five years building a network of petrol stations in the two Baltic states under the Orlen Lietuva brand. By 2012, Orlen wants to have 230 stations up and running, which would give it 20% of the local market.
At the moment, Orlen's downstream business in Lithuania consists of just 34 stations belonging to Mazeikiu, six of which have already been re-branded. Just under 200 stations will be added to the network, 120 of which will be controlled by Orlen and 75 by franchisees. "Next year we will focus on the acquisition of existing stations. Talks with private operators are already underway," said Wojciech Heydel, Orlen's Vice-President for marketing. Unlike in Poland, Germany or the Czech Republic, Orlen's Baltic network will be positioned in the premium segment.
The company also said it would not enter Estonia and is putting its plans to move into Ukraine on hold. "Buying a handful of stations there makes no sense. We would like to have 15% of the Ukrainian market, which means 600 stations," said Heydel. (Puls Biznesu, p. 13) R.M.
Image source: David Herrmann
