The foundation of Unipetrol in 1995 represented the completion of one of the gradual conceptual steps in the privatisation of the Czech petrochemical industry. Unipetrol was meant to unite selected Czech petrochemical companies into a conglomerate that would be able to compete with strong international groups. Represented by the National Property Fund, the Czech state was the majority shareholder with 63 percent. The remaining shares were owned by investment funds and small shareholders. The original concept was that the state’s interest in the company should be privatised.
Kaučuk, Chemopetrol, Benzina, Paramo, Koramo, Česká rafinérská, Unipetrol Trade, Spolana and Unipetrol Rafinérie were gradually integrated into Unipetrol.
Effective from 1 January 1996, refineries of Chemopetrol in Litvínov and Kaučuk in Kralupy were separated to be united within Česká rafinérská.
2003 – Merger of KORAMO and PARAMO. PARAMO became the legal successor.
2004 – Execution of agreement between PKN ORLEN and the National Property Fund concerning the sale of the 63% of UNIPETROL shares.
2005 – In 2005 the privatisation process of Unipetrol was completed and consequently the company became a crucial part of one of the largest refinery and petrochemical groups in Central Europe, PKN Orlen.
2006 – Sale of a majority interest in the SPOLANA subsidiary to Poland’s Zaklady Azotowe ANWIL.
UNIPETROL posted revenue of CZK 95 billion and a net profit of CZK 1.6 billion in 2006.
2007 – Sale of the KAUČUK subsidiary to Poland’s Firma Chemiczna Dwory. A new subsidiary, UNIPETROL SERVICES commenced operation. The legal form of UNIPETROL DOPRAVA, BENZINA and PETROTRANS was changed from PLC to LLC. Butadien Kralupy was formed, its shareholders being UNIPETROL (51%) and KAUČUK (49%). Subsidiaries CHEMOPETROL and UNIPETROL RAFINÉRIE merged with UNIPETROL RPA. Unipetrol purchased from CONOCOPHILLIPS shares representing a 0.225% interest in the share capital of ČESKÁ RAFINÉRSKÁ. Unipetrol acquired 14.51% of PARAMO shares from MEI group companies.
In 2007 UNIPETROL posted revenue of CZK 89 billion and a net profit of CZK 1.2 billion, making the Group one of the largest companies and major exporters in the Czech Republic. The UNIPETROL Group employs approximately 4,000 people.
2008 – Settlement of the sale of Agrobohemie and Synthesia shares based on share purchase agreements between Unipetrol and Deza. Unipetrol owned 50% of Agrobohemie shares and 38.79% of Synthesia shares. The purchase price for 47,000 Agrobohemie shares totalled CZK 503 million. The purchase price for 27,977,162 shares of Synthesia totalled CZK 680 million.
Unipetrol’s ordinary general meeting has decided to pay dividends from retained earnings of previous years.
Unipetrol Group continued in a multi-year restructuring of Unipetrol Trade. In 2008, Unipetrol France merged into Unipetrol Trade.
2009 - The Group paid compensation to minority shareholders, and acquired a 100% interest in Paramo.
2010 - UNIPETROL, a.s. and UNIPETROL RPA, s.r.o. transferred their stakes in CELIO a.s. to TICATANOR s.r.o. and to B.E.Fin S.A. The transfer was finished on 14 April 2010.
2011 - As a part of the restructuring of the refinery segment, in early 2011 two new subsidiaries of PARAMO, a.s. were established: Paramo Oil s.r.o. and Paramo Asfalt s.r.o.
In the process of the restructuring of the Unipetrol Trade Group, the liquidation of UNIPETROL TRADE a.s. was completed on 27 September 2011.
At the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter the planned shutdown of the refinery and petrochemical operations in Litvínov took place; these shutdowns are planned at four-year intervals.
2012 - In January Paramo Asfalt s.r.o. signed two 5-year supplier contracts for bitumen deliveries, one with PARAMO, a.s. and one with UNIPETROL RPA, s.r.o. The transfer of the bitumen commercial activities within Unipetrol Group was a part of the strategy for the refinery assets restructuring.
In June executives of UNIPETROL RPA, s.r.o. resolved to approve a permanent shutdown of the urea production unit at Chempark Záluží in Litvínov as of 1 January 2013. The urea production unit was a part of the agro division of UNIPETROL RPA, s.r.o. and its impact on the profitability of the whole Unipetrol Group was negative over the last couple of years while no reversion of this trend was expected.
In July Unipetrol Group announced permanent discontinuation of crude oil processing in Pardubice refinery Paramo. The decision was reached based on a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic situation, including low refining 7 margins compared with the period before the outbreak of financial and economic crisis in 2008, weak demand for diesel and refining overcapacity in Europe. Another key factor was very low conversion capacity below 1 million tonnes of crude oil and low complexity of Paramo refinery which had impacted the profitability of this Group’s asset negatively with no significant improvement expected in the various medium term scenarios analyzed.
In October PARAMO, a.s. and ORLEN Asfalt Sp. z o. o. from the mother group PKN Orlen executed an agreement, pursuant to which ORLEN Asfalt, as a purchaser, acquired from PARAMO, as a seller, 100% ownership interest in Paramo Asfalt s.r.o. The purchase price for 100% ownership interest amounted to CZK 116.1 million. The sale of Paramo Asfalt to ORLEN Asfalt was the next step in the Paramo company restructuring and refinery assets optimization, part of which was the transfer of Paramo’s commercial activities with bitumen products to Paramo Asfalt in January 2012.
