Biodiversity
The LOTOS Group operates close to areas of high environmental value and therefore makes every effort to continuously monitor potential hazards to biodiversity that may follow from its business growth. The LOTOS Group’s sites neighbouring areas of environmental value include:
- The Słupsk E and Słupsk W licence areas (2,160.3 sq. km), owned by LOTOS Petrobaltic, located in the Polish Economic Zone of the Baltic Sea and bordering on a Natura 2000 site.
- Five sites of AB LOTOS Geonafta in the Kretinga region (with a total area of 0.06 sq. km), in close vicinity to areas of great natural value due to aquatic ecosystems (Natura 2000).
- Energobaltic’s sites in Władysławowo (0.02 sq. km), bordering on the Coastal Landscape Park protected area (Natura 2000).
- The refinery in Gdańsk, located 2 km in a straight line from a protected area, unique on a European scale due to its location on a waterbird migration route (Natura 2000).
During uninterrupted operation, none of the units at the LOTOS Group companies has a major negative impact on the native species. Technical, organizational and systemic solutions have been put in place to ensure that immediate action is taken in the event of a failure involving, for example, an oil spill, in order to control any possible eruption or spill before it reaches the protected areas.
For several years, Grupa LOTOS has been investigating the impact of the Gdańsk refinery, which is its main plant, on biodiversity. As one of environmental protection tasks completed as part of our CSR strategy effective until 2015, in 2014 we carried out a voluntary comprehensive survey of wildlife within the refinery premises and in surrounding areas. The survey report serves as a basis for expanding our knowledge of biodiversity and as a starting point for monitoring sites identified as most valuable nature conservation areas.
Neither the wildlife survey carried out in 2014, nor the initial assessment of the refinery’s impact on biodiversity, showed any negative effects of the refinery’s operations on the surroundings. No investment projects are planned that could change this status.
Two endangered species included in the IUCN Red List have been identified in the vicinity of the Gdańsk refinery. However, the refinery’s operations have been found to have no adverse effect on the protected species living in the surrounding area. Repairs of the CHP plant’s chimney stack are carried out so as not to disrupt the breeding cycle of peregrine falcon nesting there.
