Statoil's subsidiary Statoil Polska has bought the Polish LPG company Duwe Gaz.
Statoil’s liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) business in Poland and Duwe Gaz have been merged to form a new company – Statoil Gaz.
The company, which will be headed by Detlef Weidemann, will be located in the town of Koscian which lies in western Poland.
Statoil’s aims to be a major player in the Polish LPG market. The acquisition of Duwe Gaz is a step towards this. In the long term, Statoil wants to be in a position to offer LPG at most of the service stations in Poland.
“Our objective for 2003 is to sell more LPG in Poland than in Norway,” says Mr Weidemann. Norwegian LPG sales amount to around 40,000 tonnes per year.
“With the acquisition of Duwe Gaz we are now in a position to control the entire LPG value chain and we consider this to be essential in order to reach our ambitious goal,” Mr Weidemann notes.
Two years ago Statoil introduced LPG at its service stations in Poland. Today, Statoil sells LPG at more than 70 of the group’s 123 outlets in that country. According to the Polish LPG trade organisation, over 590,000 cars run on LPG in Poland.
In order for LPG to replace petrol or diesel as fuel, extra equipment must be fitted in the cars. The price increase on LPG in Poland has been lower compared to other types of fuel, and demand has increased considerably. Emissions from LPG are also much cleaner than those from petrol or diesel.
Duwe Gaz has been an active player in the Polish LPG market for the last 10 years. The company has had a considerable customer portfolio both within bulk sales of gas to industry and in the retail market. Mr Wiedemann says that Statoil Gaz will take over and continue all of Duwe Gaz's business activities.