ORLEN S.A. (DFC-2023-ORLENSA)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Poland
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, ORLEN S.A.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 500.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 526.32 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Apr 4, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the DFC,the project consists of a DFC guaranty covering potential derivative obligations owed by ORLEN to Goldman Sachs in the context of ORLEN's hedging activity in relation with its US-EU LNG exposure.

The Project is expected to have a positive but limited development impact in Poland by helping to address the country’s growing demand for natural gas after Russia halted gas exports to the country, which accounted for approximately 55% of the Poland’s gas imports and 42% of total gas supply.

Specifically, the Project will enable ORLEN to limit its commodity price risk exposure and reduce its liquidity constraints in a highly volatile gas market, by increasing the amount of LNG related hedges available to ORLEN through Goldman Sachs. Furthermore, the Project will facilitate the continued supply of gas to Poland, which is an important component to the country’s energy policy of reducing the carbon intensity of its energy supply through, in part, moving away from coal-fired power towards the increased use of natural gas and renewables.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE operates as an institutional brokerage firm. The Firm offers financing, securities, asset management, consumer, fundamental, analysis, transaction, and investment banking services. Goldman Sachs Bank Europe serves clients worldwide.

ORLEN Spolka Akcyjna operates as an integrated, multi-utility company. The Company specializes in electricity generation, distribution and trading, crude oil processing, production of fuels, petrochemicals and chemicals, and the wholesale and retail sale of fuel products, as well as storage, marketing, and distribution of gaseous and liquid fuels.
Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE Investor Finance invests in ORLEN SA (former PKN ORLEN SA) Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

How it works

How it works