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PKN orlen may join with Lotos<br />
The sale of Lotos Group, Poland’s second-largest<br />
refiner is slow and final bids were due by 20th<br />
December. But many expect the process will end<br />
without a winner, speculation is rising that the<br />
government will return to its time-worn formula of<br />
trying to join Lotos with its larger state controlled<br />
rival, PKN Orlen. Press reports have citied four<br />
bidders shortlisted for Lotos, which has a refinery<br />
in northern Poland, a network of petrol stations<br />
and some extraction on the Baltic Sea: Russian<br />
TNK-BP, Hungary’s MOL, Mercuria Energy and<br />
Burgan Capital Investment of the UAE. The<br />
likeliest partners are thought to be Russian oil<br />
majors, as Lotos may make a decent fit into their<br />
central European strategy – but investments by<br />
Russia are still regarded with suspicion.<br />
TaTNEFT station network in Belarus<br />
The first filling station of TATNEFT in the<br />
Republic of Belarus has opened and construction<br />
of the second filling station was<br />
completed. Both are now operational and at<br />
this time construction and installation works<br />
were approaching completion and preparing<br />
for commissioning of six other stations.<br />
Motorists are offered high-quality gasoline,<br />
diesel fuel & gas and plans envisage opening<br />
Imaging innovation talk of ‘new petroleum age’<br />
One of the world’s leading energy companies,<br />
Norway’s Statoil ASA, has gone public with a<br />
scientific innovation that it says will drastically<br />
reduce the costs and risks of discovering new<br />
deposits of fossil fuels. Already employed by<br />
Statoil worldwide over the past few years, the<br />
technique especially improves the odds of<br />
finding oil and gas in unexplored regions that<br />
have never felt the bite of a drill’s bit, said Helge<br />
optima considers buying oMv units<br />
Bosnia’s Optima is interested in taking over<br />
Austrian oil and gas group OMV AG’s petrol<br />
stations in Croatia and Bosnia as part of plans<br />
to expand across the Balkans. Jurij Belov, the<br />
General Manager of Optima Group, which<br />
operates Bosnia’s sole oil refinery Brod and<br />
the Nestro petrol retail chain, said regional<br />
expansion was one its strategic goals. “We<br />
are very interested in entering the Croatian<br />
shops soon. Additional equipment installed<br />
at the fuel-dispenser allows processing bank<br />
and fuel cards. Irek Gafiyatullin, Director of<br />
“Tatbelnefteprodukt”, the TATNEFT company’s<br />
regional structure, noted that the new station<br />
had been equipped with foreign equipment<br />
and all the instrumentation had been produced<br />
in Belarus. 21 new job positions have been<br />
created thanks to Tatarstan’s investor.<br />
Løseth, one of the Statoil geologists behind<br />
the innovation, published in last Decembers<br />
issue of the journal Geology. Everywhere, he<br />
said, “you increase the likelihood of striking<br />
oil quite significantly”. Independent geologists<br />
expect Statoil’s seismic leap, while perhaps not<br />
exclusive to the company, will ripple through<br />
the industry, becoming a standard tool over<br />
the next few years.<br />
market and taking over OMV’s retail chain<br />
there, as well as in Bosnia.” OMV operates<br />
63 retail units in Croatia and holds a 13 percent<br />
market share there, while in Bosnia it<br />
runs 13 units and has an 8 percent market<br />
share. Optima Group, owned by Russian<br />
firm Neftegazinkor, a unit of state-run Zarubezhneft,<br />
has a retail network of 88 petrol<br />
stations in Bosnia.<br />
No postponement for mandatory level gauges<br />
Bulgarian filling station owners will get no<br />
postponement for installing mandatory level<br />
gauges, said Rosen Bachvarov, Spokesperson<br />
of the National Revenue Agency (NRA)<br />
on Monday. Industry representatives have<br />
warned that the requirement to mount the<br />
equipment by end – March will lead to the<br />
Lithuania’s vakoil turnover almost doubles<br />
Vakoil, the Lithuanian chain of petrol stations,<br />
boosted its turnover by about 96 percent to<br />
25.7 million litas (7.33 million euros) over<br />
the first nine months of the year 2011. The<br />
growth of the turnover was determined by new<br />
forced closure of thousands of filling stations,<br />
leaving 4 000 workers unemployed. “We<br />
remain open to dialogue on the technical<br />
requirements”, Bachvarov said. Since taking<br />
office we have already uncovered some<br />
24 million leva in hidden turnover amid<br />
falling fuel consumption.<br />
contracts with more than 160 companies, the<br />
company’s head Povilas Ugianskis said. In the<br />
third quarter of 2011 the turnover of Vakoil<br />
totalled 9 million litas (2.56 million euros),<br />
an annual increase of 50 percent year-on-year.<br />
LaTEST NEwS, EvENTS, JoBS oNLINE – www.PETRoLPLaza.coM<br />
Medvedev orders<br />
clampdown<br />
NEwS – EURoPE<br />
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has<br />
ordered the head of Russia’s anti-monopoly<br />
service (FAS) to closely monitor retail<br />
vehicle fuel prices, with any baseless<br />
increases met with swift legal measures.<br />
The Energy Ministry said: “The recent rise<br />
in excise duty on fuel products should not<br />
lead to a one-off ‘shock’ rise in gasoline<br />
and diesel prices.” A series of measures<br />
were taken in 2011 aimed at stabilizing<br />
the domestic fuel market. High-octane<br />
gasoline for the domestic market rose<br />
7.3 percent and winter diesel fuel 5 percent.<br />
Fuel stocks at oil refineries and oil<br />
depots last year almost doubled from<br />
2010. Fuel shortages occurred in Russia<br />
last year after oil companies suspended<br />
deliveries complaining that pressure from<br />
government to hold down retail prices<br />
made sales less profitable in the country<br />
than selling abroad.<br />
EU directive comes<br />
into effect<br />
On 1st January 2012, the EU directive<br />
(2009/126/EC) on vapour recovery became<br />
effective. This directive tightens<br />
the recovery efficiency, definings a maximum<br />
allowed deviation of +/- 5 percent.<br />
Monitoring is optional, but the mandatory<br />
inspection interval can be increased from<br />
once every two years to every third year<br />
when a monitoring system is installed. The<br />
requirements in this directive are for new<br />
or refurbished stations. It affects stations<br />
with a throughput exceeding 500 m³ per<br />
year, or 100 m³ if it is located under a<br />
building. Existing service stations with<br />
a throughput in excess of 3 000 m³ per<br />
year are required to be equipped with<br />
vapour recovery systems by no later than<br />
31st December 2018. Where a monitoring<br />
system is included, there will typically<br />
be a requirement to integrate this with<br />
the POS system.<br />
NIS opens petrol<br />
stations in Bulgaria<br />
Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) plans<br />
to buy 20 petrol stations in Bulgaria, Serbian<br />
newspapers report. According to NIS<br />
deputy general director Nicolaus Petri the<br />
company plans to buy petrol stations in<br />
Romania as well. He said, “NIS wanted<br />
to set up a chain of 80 petrol stations in<br />
Bulgaria in the next two years”.<br />
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