Poland’s PKN Orlen (Plock; www.orlen.pl) has taken over full control of Czech refiner and petrochemicals producer Unipetrol (Prague; www.unipetrol.cz) with effect from 1 October 2018, having acquired the outstanding shares – see Plasteurope.com of 19.12.2017.

“The Unipetrol acquisition will make the Orlen group stronger and – coupled with the planned takeover of Grupa Lotos – will allow us to better compete on the demanding European market,” said Daniel Obajtek, Orlen’s CEO and president of its management board.

Unipetrol is the Czech Republic’s largest refining and petrochemicals group. It owns refineries in Litvínov and Kralupy along with Spolana (Neratovice / Czech Republic; www.spolana.cz), the country’s sole PVC and caprolactam producer, which is operationally controlled by Anwil (Włocławek / Poland; www.anwil.com.pl). According to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), Unipetrol has a naphtha cracker in Litvínov with a capacity of 544,000 t/y of ethylene and downstream production units for PP and HDPE.

The Prague-based group is currently constructing a 270,000 t/y PE plant ("PE3") at Litvínov, which it said will increase the utilisation rate of its olefins unit and facilitate stronger integration of its petrochemical and refining production. PE3, which is due for completion by the end of 2018, will replace an older 120,000 t/y PE unit ("PE1") and complement the existing "PE2" unit, which has a capacity of 200,000 t/y – see Plasteurope.com of 16.06.2016.

Obajtek said increasing the group’s petrochemical production capacity was one of its strategic objectives, with PE3 being the key project right now. “The Litvínov production unit will significantly strengthen Unipetrol’s position in the fast-growing petrochemical sector, both in the Czech Republic and within the Orlen group,” he said.