Grupa LOTOS (formerly Rafineria Gdańska S.A.) operates in both processing and selling petroleum products in Eastern and Central Europe. Poland's second-largest oil refiner and supplier, and one of the biggest retailers has sought to consistently upgrade and revamp the Gdańsk refinery, increasing its nameplate capacity from ca.3 million tpa (as built in 1973 / 1974) to over 10 million tpa (2011).
The investment projects at the Gdańsk refinery have been generally focused on improvement of LOTOS' competitiveness in the market.
Other main goals were to meet European legislation requirements for low-sulfur diesel and gasoline and to allow processing of new feedstocks.
In 2007, LOTOS began its largest investment project: “10+ Programme” with the target to expand refinery capacity, increase efficiency, and reduce the impact of the refinery onto the environment. Also, “10+” helped LOTOS to comply with European Union requirements for diesel specification (10 ppm sulfur), which entered in force in 2009. At the completion of the “10+ Programme”, in December 2010, the processing capacity of crude oil increased by 75% (from 6 mln tpa to 10.5 tpa), and diesel oil production achieved more than .5 million tonnes per year.
The company is a leading European producer of bitumens, lubricating oils, and paraffins. It is also involved in offshore oil exploration and production in the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian seashore.