PKN Orlen: Expected changes in the management board

Yesterday, in line with press speculations, two management board members were dismissed: Jan Maciejewicz (responsible for costs management) and Cezary Smorszczewski (responsible for capital investments). At the same time, supervisory board nominated Krystian Pater for the position of management board member of PKN. Krystian Pater has been working in the company since 1993, until June 2005 as an executive director for refining and production. Since June 2005 he is the member of the management board of Unipetrol and since December 2006, a management board member of Mazeikiu Nafta.

Our view: We view the news as neutral, as it was expected after the recent changes in the CEO position and is in line with earlier press speculations. The internal nomination of Krystian Pater looks positive. Currently from the management headed by Igor Chalupec there are two members left, the CFO Pawel Szymanski and Wojciech Heydel, responsible for retail sales.