The 2018 investment totalled CZK 7.9 billion. It went mainly to the construction of the new polyethylene unit PE3 in Litvínov and the new boiler house of the steam cracker in Litvínov, as well as in the planned six-week maintenance of the refinery in Kralupy nad Vltavou. Other key investment projects on all sites of the Unipetrol Group included the ongoing revamp of the T700 power plant in Litvínov and the construction of a new gas boiler house in Neratovice. Investment in the retail segment went primarily to the ongoing modernisation of the network of Benzina filling stations, primarily to development of Stop Café refreshments.
“At the beginning of October, international group PKN Orlen became the sole owner of our company. Stability and a strong base of our owner that is doing business in the same field as we are is a guarantee for the further growth of the entire group,” says Unipetrol CEO Krzysztof Zdziarski, adding: “We have massively invested in the modernization and development of our production facilities throughout the group. Investments worth 8 billion crowns are the second largest investment volume over the past ten years. Over the past three years, we have invested over 26 billion crowns in the upgrading and expansion of production facilities in the Group.”
The volume of processed oil amounted to 7.5 million tonnes. Production capacities of Unipetrol’s refinery part were utilised to 86%. Utilisation of petrochemical capacities amounted to 81%. Sales volumes of refinery products reached 6.3 million tonnes and of petrochemical products 1.9 billion tonnes.
In the retail segment, Unipetrol continued investing in the modernisation of Benzina filling stations and the development of the Stop Café refreshment concept that is now available at 270 out of 409 filling stations. Unipetrol continued to gradually strengthen the leading position of the Benzina brand on the market in the Czech Republic when its market share increased to 23.2% (as of October 31, 2018).