The Polish downstream oil and gas group PKN Orlen (27.5% state-owned) has agreed sell some assets of Grupa Lotos to other investors to address some competition concerns and to complete its takeover of the firm. Most notably, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL will acquire 417 Polish service stations for US$610m (€534m), while Saudi Aramco will purchase a 30% stake in the bitumen manufacturer Lotos Asfalt, which also owns the 210,000 bbl/d Lotos refinery Gdansk, along with a 100% interest in an associated wholesale business, and 50% in a jet fuel marketing joint venture with BP. If the transaction is finalised, PKN Orlen will buy 200-337 kb/d of oil from Saudi Aramco. Poland's Unimot and Hungary's Rossi Biofuel will also acquire some Lotos assets, in logistics and in biofuels, respectively.
The merger of PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos was announced in 2018, but had to meet condition set by the European Commission. PKN also plans to take over the Polish upstream energy group PGNiG (71.9% state-owned), but the transaction is yet to be approved by the Polish competition regulator Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). In September 2021, PKN Orlen owned and operated 1,800 service stations in Poland (23% of the total) and Grupa Lotos 516 (7%).