In 2007, Grupa LOTOS  was intensely involved in the 10+ Programme. Apart from the primary aim included in the development programme, i.e. to increase the processing capacities of the refinery in Gdańsk from 6 to approx. 10.5 million tonnes/year, an important element of the Programme is the intensification of petroleum processing, so as to increase the volume of high quality fuels that fulfil the strictest standards that apply at present, or will come into force in the following years.

Grupa LOTOS, seeing environmental protection as one of its priorities in the Concerns mission, selects only eco-friendly technologies that fulfil the requirements of the best available techniques as early as at the stage of investment process planning. Their emission criteria, high power efficiency and process productivity, contribute to minimising the negative environmental impact. Achieving positive results in this area is possible not only by decreasing emission indexes, but also owing to the high quality of products, which provides minimal environmental impact at the site of utilization.

The same principle has been adopted in the 10+ Programme. The development concept included in the strategy of Grupa LOTOS will provide the achievement of set economic goals with a relatively small increase in pollution emission, which complies with the best practice of sustainability.

Independent opinions received by Grupa LOTOS in 2007 by bodies that assessed the environmental impact of the investment project show that the volume of pollution emitted into air and water does not cause a significant deterioration of air and sanitary conditions in the area adjacent to the refinery or in Nature 2000 sites. The concentration of all substances emitted both in an organised and unorganised manner will fulfil the applicable referential values in the course of the investment and will not have any negative affect on the health of people or the natural balance within the measurable growth of impact.

The following decisions were taken in order to minimise the negative environmental impact, already at the design stage of the 10+ Programme investments:

• all potential discharges of hydrocarbons from safety valves will be connected to the discharge collector network and flared
• the area of the systems and all sites where a potential leakage of hydrocarbons is possible will be strengthened and provided with connections to the sewage system and the treatment plant
• the plants subterranean drainage will operate within the systems and will be connected with the sewage treatment plant, which will be capable of receiving any leakage to soil or ground water
• the system of sensors detecting any leaks early in the apparatus and the discharge of hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulphide into the atmosphere will be extended with new installations
• releases from apparatus, pumps and pipelines will be connected to a closed drainage system and after that directed for re-processing
• in order to reduce noise emission, the purchased equipment will be made in a version of reduced operation noise level
• continuous monitoring will be organised at pollution sources and monitoring of the sewage quality at every stage of its treatment
• low-emission burners will be applied in specially designed furnaces so as to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides, together with a system of reducing energy consumption by recovering heat from combustion gases

Contracting the complicated process designs of the 10+ Programme systems from international engineering offices gives an additional guarantee of selecting the best available tools and methods that ensure the achievement of aims recorded in the environmental policy of Grupa LOTOS, namely:

• clean production, i.e. the systematic reduction in the consumption of utilities and raw materials, restricting the emissions of pollution created during production, thorough treatment of sewage, minimising the volume of produced waste and efficient failure prevention
• safe products, i.e. producing high quality fuels featuring the lowest possible inconvenience for the environment and men.