Polish retail fuel market

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In 2013, there were 6.7 thousand service stations operating on the Polish fuel market. As in previous years, one-third of the stations belonged to domestic operators, 21% were owned by foreign corporations, while almost 44% were operated independently. Expansion of the service station chains owned by foreign corporations was centred around Company-Owned Dealer-Operated stations (own stations) – with Shell recording the largest increase in the number of stations following purchase of the Neste chain of 88 stations – as well as Dealer-Owned Franchise-Operated stations (partner stations). Relative to its competitors, LOTOS has the second fastest growing chain of service stations in Poland, surpassed only by Shell.

Service stations in Poland in 2013

Source: Polish Organization of Oil Industry and Trade (POPiHN).

The number of service stations in corporate chains continues to rise, while the network of independently-operated stations is gradually consolidating and shrinking. 

These tendencies will be particularly apparent in the following year, as the Ministry of Economy’s regulation mandating service stations to modernise their storage tanks comes into effect early in 2014.

Expansion of Poland’s motorway network has been accompanied by a growing number of motorway service areas. At the end of 2013, there were 55 (1) Motorway Service Areas (MSAs) in Poland, including 14 under the LOTOS brand. 

In recent years, Grupa LOTOS has adopted a brand development strategy based on two segments − premium and economy, which has led to 50 new stations added to the LOTOS Optima chain.

One-third of our service stations operate in the economy segment.

(1) Based on data from the Polish Organization of Oil Industry and Trade (POPiHN).