Market activity, 3.11.2009First airplane already fuelled

Aircraft, which has 777 km long shuttle, fueled approximately 8 thousand liters of jet fuel.

– Today we have 2 reasons for celebration – emphasizes Dariusz Falkiewicz, President of LOTOS Tank. – On one hand that was the first airplane being fuelled in our company’s history. Secondly it was the opening jet fuel cargo delivered form alternative supplier. I believe, that our presence at the Gdańsk airport, will benefited higher quality service for airlines and further development of our airport.    

 – We are very pleased that our Gdańsk airport reached a new aviation fuel operator in its offer – states Włodzimierz Machczyński, President of Gdańsk airport. – We all, hand in hand, work for airport’s development and thanks to such investments in infrastructure as LOTOS Tank’s state-of-the-art fuel terminal we become more and more attractive venue for airlines and private jet owners. I presume that passengers will also take their advantage due to further improvement of our airlines network flying to/from Gadańsk.         

 On September LOTOS Tank was awarded the Onshore Service Agent Certificate submitted by Polish Civil Aviation Authority. The certificate is valid till September the 30th 2010. Together with the permission for onshore service render as well as positive opinion presented by Local Measure Authority, the company is given a full set documents authorized its operational start up  at the Gdańsk airport.

 – This is not the end of our plans. We would like to develop dynamically. At November we are going to bid for contracts regarding aviation fuel deliveries for airlines, operating at the Gdańsk airport. Additionally, in the following year, we would like to improve our activity as an alternative aviation fuel supplier on a number of Polish airports – concludes Maciej Szozda, Vice-President and CCO of Grupa LOTOS S.A.       

 – Lately our terminal gained two hi-tech Mercedes tank trucks relevant for airplanes fuelling – marks Jacek Wensławowski, chief of LOTOS Tank fuel terminal. – Furthermore our terminal personnel passed successfully all required examinations and possess appropriate certificates, e.g. for tank trucks driving and aircrafts fuelling.    

   On January LOTOS opened its first fuel terminal, located at the Gdańsk airport. The terminal was built in accordance with standards of international organization for airport operations gathering, among others, world fuel producers, airports and airlines. The terminal consists of i.a. 4 ground two-shell tanks designed for storage of aircraft fuel JET A-1. Total capacity of storage tanks reaches 400 m3. Each tank is provided with 3 technological scuttles making possible swift access to the interior space due to control and up-grade procedures. Due to special requirements concerning the quality of aviation fuel the installations has been equipped with drainage system including drainage pump. Fuel delivery-reception point enables collision-free unloading and loading of airport tank trucks. Fuel during unloading from tank truck shall be  collected by means of two collecting lines equipped with Camlock type connection, which enables simultaneous unloading of both tank truck chambers and makes the whole operation much quicker. Unloading pump utilization reaches max. 1300 dm3/min.

 Jointly with Norwegians

 At the end of previous year LOTOS commenced cooperation with Statoil aiming at i.a. implementation of mutual activities on Polish aviation fuel market. Both entities set a goal therefore to enhance promptly bilateral relationships due to start operating on Polish airports. – Concrete results of this agreement can be seen now as we fuelled our first aircraft belonging to Scandinavian airline, at the Gdańsk airport – says CEO Falkiewicz.

 – Poland is in general a very important market for Statoil and Statoil has been present in the retail market in Poland for close to 20 years. During these years Statoil has been exploring possibilities to enter also the high growth aviation market. We are therefore very pleased that we have concluded this agreement with LOTOS to develop these opportunities together, starting with Gdańsk. Statoil Aviation's main goals are to improve the service and the price level for the customers at Polish airports and we consider our joint approach in Gdańsk as a first step into this direction. LOTOS strength and know-how on the supply side with the Gdańsk refinery, and Statoil's strength and experience within operation and marketing of jet fuel for airlines should be perfect fit for this market, the region and the airlines flying here – says Torgrim Kjólberg, Vice President of Statoil Aviation.

 Thanks to Program 10+ fruition LOTOS Tank wants to substantially strengthen its position in the aviation fuel market. When the project is ready in 2010, Gdansk refinery will be able to produce even million tons of aviation fuels a year. For comparison, last year the refinery produced half million tons of that fuel. Additional volume of aviation fuel will be produced next year by MHC unit (mild hydrockraking) being constructed just within Program 10+. In the refinery of Grupa LOTOS S. A. in Gdańsk, aviation fuel is produced by two Merox units able to produce ca. 60 tons of fuel over about an hour. That amount is sufficient for Boeing 767 to fly from Warsaw to Chicago. In 2008 some 80% of aviation fuels were exported, among others, to Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Czech Rep. Aviation fuels from Gdańsk refinery were also delivered to a number of domestic airports in Poland.

 Marcin Zachowicz, Spokesman of Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, tel. +48 58 308 75 70, +48 505 050 454, e-mail: marcin.zachowicz@grupalotos.pl