Orlen, a Polish company, plans to invest 380 billion Zlotys (about $3.8 billion) by 2035

Orlen, Poland's oil retailer and refiner, plans to invest between $84.3 billion and $91 billion by 2035.

This compares to the 320 billion zlotys in investments that were envisaged for an eight-year period under the 2022 Strategy.

Orlen shares fell as much as 3,2% after the announcement of Orlen's strategy, but they were only down 0.1% as of 1017 GMT.

The new strategy is the result of the audit by the management of over 50 projects that were undertaken by previous executives, and the decision made by the group to reduce and rename the Olefins project.

Orlen has stated in a release that its investment goals for the next decade are to meet 100% of Poland's gas demand by increasing production and securing strategic supply contracts. It also wants to build 4.3 gigawatts of gas-fired energy generation capacity as well as 1.4 GW capacity of energy storage.

The company aims to increase its natural gas production to 12 billion cubic meters per year from 9.1 bcm and to contract 15 bcm liquefied gas per year.

Under the new strategy, the company plans to also develop four offshore windfarms and at least two modular small reactors.

Orlen announced that its dividend payout guaranteed in 2025 will increase from 4,30 zlotys (40 cents) to 4,50 zlotys (45 cents). It also confirmed its policy of an annual increase 0.15 zlotys ($0.15) per share.

It said that the company would also be able to recommend dividends up to 25 percent higher than annual operating cash flow, net of finance costs.

Orlen said it wants to ensure a stable growth rate of its earnings before depreciation, amortisation and the impact of crude prices on the value inventories. This is known as EBITDA LiFO. Orlen targets between 53 and 58 billion zlotys in this key earnings metric by 2035.

(source: Reuters)