"The merger with PGNiG will broaden the company's value chain with natural gas," Obajtek said.
Adam Warżawa/PAP

Polish leading oil company PKN Orlen has asked the country’s anti-trust regulator UOKiK for the green light to take over Poland’s natural gas monopolist PGNiG.

PKN Orlen’s takeover of PGNiG will increase competitiveness on the global market and will speed up the green transition of the Polish energy sector, Orlen wrote in its motion.

“We’re consistently implementing our plan of building a multi-energy company,” PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek was quoted as saying in a press release.

“Only a strong company with diversified revenues can ensure capital for the ambitious investments, including low- and zero-emission energy sources,” Obajtek continued.

Orlen has already acquired one of the biggest Polish energy companies Energa and press conglomerate Polska Press. The company is also in the process of taking over its local peer Lotos.

“The merger with PGNiG will broaden the company’s value chain with natural gas,” Obajtek said.

Initially, PKN Orlen sent a motion for the PGNiG takeover to the European Commission, but the EU body said the domestic watchdog should decide on the matter.

The acquisition procedure started in July 2020.