ORLEN Unipetrol and ALKA Wildlife have been cooperating for 12 years. They jointly monitor peregrine falcons living on the Group’s production premises with ideal conditions: peace and enough food. Currently, two nesting boxes are installed on the chimneys of the heating plant and steam cracker in Chempark Litvínov; two more are placed on chimneys in Spolana Neratovice, and the last one is in the Kralupy nad Vltavou refinery. Forty chicks have already hatched at these sites.
Peregrine falcons live to the age of 20 and have popular nesting places, where they keep returning all their life. With the maximum speed of 350 km/h in headfirst flight, they are probably the fastest animal on the Earth. Peregrines are a traditional species in the Czech territory. The strongest population of this predator hunting pigeons, ducks, smaller birds, and bats was recorded in the 1940s and 1950s when up to 60 couples nested in former Czechoslovakia. Peregrines disappeared from the Czech landscape in the 1970s due to the excessive use of pesticides in agriculture. There were about 20 couples in the country at the turn of the millennium. The strict protection has increased their numbers to about 120 couples now.
The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the critical players in the Czech and Central European markets. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo in Pardubice, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. ORLEN Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina ORLEN filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 424 filling stations, Benzina ORLEN is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. ORLEN Unipetrol employs more than 4,800 people. In 2005, ORLEN Unipetrol became a member of the ORLEN Group, the largest crude oil processor in Central Europe. In addition to its business development, ORLEN Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives, focusing on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment.