Petrochemicals

The high quality of products and efficient distribution network make the petrochemical segment of ORLEN Group one of the strongest companies of this type in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2010 it comprised of selected units which were the Petrochemical Plant in Płock, Basell Orlen Polyolefins and business units from Unipetrol Group. The Company is the sole manufacturer of olefins, polyolefins and most petrochemicals in Poland and the Czech Republic.
 

Petrochemicals

In 2010 the market situation improved, which influenced prices of petrochemical products, mainly olefins. In the first half of the year the Company recorded their systematic increase. This was the result of the imbalanced market – demand significantly exceeded the supply. This effect intensified due to a large number of overhauls of units planned for that period by European producers. The third quarter brought stabilisation of the market situation and price reductions, whereas the fourth quarter – growing prices of raw materials and petrochemicals.

ORLEN Group petrochemical products sales volumes in 2009–2010 (‘000 tonnes)

		2009			2010
	Poland	The Czech Republic	Total	Poland	The Czech Republic	Total
Polyethylene	171	286	457	181	288	469
Polypropylene	168	214	382	165	242	407
Ethylene	174	87	261	187	212	299
Propylene	178	36	214	170	43	213
Toluene	71	3	74	34	3	37
Benzene	81	182	263	71	211	282
Ortoxylene	20	0	20	6	0	6
Acetone	21	0	21	23	0	23
Butadiene	57	0	57	63	30	93
Glycols	68	2	70	64	1	65
Ethylene oxide	18	0	18	18	0	18
Phenol	34	0	34	35	0	35
Plastics	389	13	402	324	12	336
Artificial fertilizers	1 075	1	1 076	1 170	0	1 170
Others	545	925	1 470	437	843	1 280
Total	3 070	1 749	2 848	2 948	1 785	4 733

Restriction of production of certain products resulted in reduced sales in 2010, compared to the previous year. This was caused by a planned technological standstill of the Olefin unit in Płock, technological problems experienced by one of the main recipients of ethylene from the Production Plant in Płock and optimisation of operations of units related to the production chain.
 

Polish and Czech plants of ORLEN Group produced over 956,000 tonnes of ethylene. This signifies almost 3% increase in comparison to the previous year. Propylene production in the reported period topped 577,000 tonnes, i.e. approximately 0.3% more than in the previous year.

Plastic Materials

The volume of polypropylene production in 2010 totalled 568,000 tonnes, which was 6% more than in 2009. In 2010 ORLEN Group produced 6% more polyolefins than in 2009. In the period in question the production of polyethylene on units in Poland and in the Czech Republic reached the level of 642,000 tonnes, which was 6% more than in 2009.

Investment projects

The main task carried out in 2010 was completion of the technical stage of construction of the PX plant (paraxylene production) and PTA plant (terephthalic acid production) in Włocławek. Commissioning of both units is planned for the first half of 2011.

Annual production capacities of the PX unit in Płock, producing raw material for production of terephthalic acid, amount to 400,000 tonnes. The expected time for commencement of continuous production at the PX unit is the 2nd quarter of 2011.

Whereas annual production capacities of the PTA unit, located on the premises neighbouring the ANWIL plant in Włocławek, amount to 600,000 tonnes of acid. The expected time for commencement of continuous production at the PTA unit is the 2nd quarter of 2011.

Other petrochemical companies of ORLEN Group carried out programmes for modernisation of existing infrastructure, obligatory and development projects. The Company completed, among others, the construction of Butadiene unit 120,000 tonnes in Unipetrol in the Czech Republic and construction of the oxygen generating unit as well as connection of utilities to the PTA plant in the ANWIL plants in Włocławek.