Grupa LOTOS has engaged an owner’s representative to provide comprehensive supervision over the work to be performed under its EFRA Project. On Friday, January 29th 2016, the Company signed an agreement with a reputable partner, Tebodin Poland. The contractor will act as the owner’s representative, supervising the key project areas and the construction/installation work to be performed under the EFRA Project implemented at the Gdańsk refinery. The owner’s representative will provide its services until the end of August 2018.

Using the services of a multidisciplinary owner’s representative to provide comprehensive supervision over construction/installation work, in this case work performed under the EFRA Project, is a common practice followed not only by Grupa LOTOS. A partner who is a specialist in its field guarantees comprehensive and professional project oversight, reducing workload for LOTOS specialists. Tebodin Poland will be responsible for supervising key components of the EFRA Project, including the Delayed Coker Unit (DCU), Hydrogen Generation Unit (HGU), Hydrowax Vacuum Distillation Unit (HVDU), as well as the auxiliary systems and installations. Owner’s representative services will also cover inter-unit connections (pipelines) and tanks, general infrastructure, underground networks, as well as the systems and buildings related to telecommunications and supply and distribution of power.

“An agreement with a proven and experienced provider of owner’s representative services is part of the process aimed at ensuring quality of the work performed under the project. Our choice of Tebodin reflects our intention to find a balance between proper quality of the services provided and their price. The cheapest bids failed to meet the quality criterion and were rejected by the Committee. Taking into account Tebodin’s strong track record and our previous experience with the company on other projects, we decided to sign an agreement with just one contractor to provide the full range of owner’s representative services. Around fifty inspectors will assist us at key points of the EFRA Project,” said Grzegorz Błędowski, EFRA Project Director.

“We have many years of experience in providing multidisciplinary owner’s representative services at the Gdańsk refinery. We secured our first owner’s representative agreement in May 2007. That engagement was followed but several others. We supervised projects under the 10+ Programme that were of strategic importance to LOTOS. I am glad that we have won the trust of a partner as demanding as Grupa LOTOS. In the case of the EFRA Project, we will supervise all project works, and I can assure you that, like in the past, we will deliver excellent service,” added Maciej Gwóźdź, Office Head at Tebodin Poland.

Contracts that have been signed so far under the EFRA Project, including construction contracts covering all process units, account for 76 percent of the project budget. In 2015, the amount of work actually done was twice the amount originally planned. Currently, design work and procurement of materials and equipment are under way. The project is progressing fast, therefore the Company expects that ground-levelling and piling work at the sites where the first installations of the DCU unit are to be erected should start in late March or early April, after the building permit has been obtained. Also, the necessary facilities for the contractors will be prepared. After completion of the piling work, which serves to stabilise and improve the bearing power of soil, the laying of foundations for the installations will start, followed by structural work scheduled to commence in July or August.

Communications Office, Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. (+48) 58 308 87 31, (+48) 58 308 83 88, e-mail: media@grupalotos.pl