ExxonMobil’s (Houston, Texas / USA; www.exxonmobil.com) withdrawal from shale gas extraction in Poland – see Plasteurope.com of 27.06.2012 – apparently has not affected the country’s resolve to continue exploring its reserves. Recently, majority state-owned oil and gas group PKN Orlen (Plock / Poland; www.orlen.pl) announced that it had started horizontal drills in the country, at a depth of about 2,700 m. During the coming two months, PKN will drill about four kilometres of ground in Syczyn, located in the country’s southeast near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine. The area will then be fracked. PKN said it is optimistic that the drill result will be positive, meriting additional fracking projects in the region.