On 22nd of June "Bareilly" tanker berthed at Naftoport's fuel base. It delivered 60 thousand tonnes of Saudi Extra Light crude oil to Grupa LOTOS S.A.'s refinery in Gdańsk.

The shipment is the result of talks between LOTOS and Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian company, concerning possible cooperation in crude oil supplies to the Gdańsk refinery.

The delivered Saudi Extra Light is a test shipment. It will be processed at the Gdańsk refinery to assess the technological and economic viability of supplies of this type of crude oil.

- The visit of Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister, and Mikołaj Budzanowski, Polish Minister of the State Treasury, in Saudi Arabia in April had a major positive effect on talks between the representatives of the two companies - said Maciej Szozda, Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer of Grupa LOTOS S.A. - During the visit, with the delegation including Paweł Olechnowicz, President of Grupa LOTOS S.A.’s Management Board, a meeting was held with the Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, among others.

- The shipment provides a double benefit to LOTOS. Firstly, the Company is making an effective use of the Gdańsk refinery’s seaboard location, and secondly, it has an opportunity to test the technological capacity of facilities built as part of the 10+ Programme - pointed out Paweł Olechnowicz, President of Grupa LOTOS S.A. - In both cases our refinery is the only such facility in Poland with such potential, which gives us a major competitive edge.

If the assessment of Saudi Extra Light's usefulness is positive both in technological and economic terms, it is possible that LOTOS will establish long-term cooperation with Saudi Aramco.

The key feedstock of Grupa LOTOS S.A.’s refinery in Gdańsk is the Russian Ural crude oil and the Rozewie crude oil produced on the Baltic Sea (by LOTOS Petrobaltic).  However, in its history the plant has processed various types of oil,  including oil sourced from the North Sea (e.g. Brent Blend, Troll, Gullfaks, Forties or Aasgard), the Middle East (e.g. Kirkuk, Kuwait, Sahara and Zakum), as well as some exotic types of oil, such as Castilla crude from Columbia, which owing to its chemical properties is an excellent feedstock for the production of bitumens. 

The LOTOS Group comprises Grupa LOTOS S.A. (the parent), LOTOS Czechowice, LOTOS Jasło, LOTOS Petrobaltic (which carries out oil and gas exploration and production operations on the Baltic Sea) and almost twenty other subsidiaries operating under the LOTOS brand. In Q1 2012, LOTOS' revenue reached more than PLN 7.8bn.  In the same quarter, the Company posted an operating profit of PLN 419m and a net profit of nearly PLN 600m, which means a seven-fold increase over Q4 2011.

As at the end of February 2012, LOTOS' share in overall fuel sales was 35.1%, up by 1.6 p.p. relative to the end of 2011. The network of the Company's service stations has a 8.2% share in the retail market (end of February 2012).

Through LOTOS Petrobaltic and LOTOS Norge, the Company is engaged in the exploration for and production of crude oil on the Polish and Norwegian Continental Shelf. Following the acquisition of all shares in LOTOS Geonafta, LOTOS also gained access to onshore oil deposits in Lithuania. LOTOS' strategy for 2011–2015 provides for reaching annual crude oil production of 1.2 million tonnes by 2015.

Marcin Zachowicz, spokesperson for Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. +48 58 308 75 70, e-mail: marcin.zachowicz@grupalotos.pl