Mol Group awarded at Petroleum Economist Award 2016 for Best Downstream Company of the Year

On 15 September 2016, the winners of this year edition of Petroleum Economist Awards were presented with their trophies at a ceremony held at the Banking Hall in the City of London, attended by representatives from across the energy industry.

2016-09-19 14:46:27

The Petroleum Economist Awards aim to celebrate the people, companies and projects which epitomise the best of the energy industry and to identify and reward examples of innovation and excellence. Besides MOL Group, this year's winners also included Eni for exploration company of the year and Repsol for petrochemical company of the year.

The Best Downstream Company Award recognizes the implementation of a clear business strategy, the achievement of business goals, commitment to employee development and an innovative approach to tackling business challenges.

Ferenc Horvath, Downstream Executive VP, MOL Group says: "We are honoured to receive such a prestigious award, which recognizes the successful implementation of our business strategy and our operational excellence. MOL Group Downstream started an ambitious journey in 2011 strongly focusing on internal efficiency improvements and significantly growing its retail and petrochemicals businesses. We strongly rely on and believe in the expertise and dedication of our people and we are convinced that human capital and the continuous development of corporate culture are of utmost importance for any business strategy to succeed. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our colleagues for their contribution. We will build on our foundations and we are well positioned to capture and deliver further long-term growth in an ever faster changing external environment."

In 2015 MOL Group Downstream delivered its strongest ever performance with a Clean CCS EBITDA of USD 1.65bn alongside with strong free cash flow generation of more than USD 1bn. Nearly half of the EBITDA performance was the result of the cumulative effects of MOL Group's internal efficiency improvement programs.

The New Downstream Program (2012-2014), which targeted USD 500mn EBITDA improvement, was designed as the first group-wide initiative with the goal to improve internal operations and to present a response to the unfavourable external environment. The program covered every element of the integrated value chain from crude selection through refining and petrochemicals to wholesale and retail.
Upon the successful completion of the program, in an environment of growing competition, stagnating demand and significant overcapacity, MOL Group decided to react to further boost its profitability and competitiveness by launching the Next Downstream Program 2015-2017 (NxDSP). The program set out to deliver another USD 500mn improvement with MOL Group's strategic growth projects in petrochemicals and retail set to contribute USD 150 mn. The significant incremental improvement of the NxDSP may realize a 3 USD/bbl profitability boost by 2017.

MOL Group has also announced this week that it has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, which places the company in the top 15 per cent of integrated oil and gas companies based on its corporate sustainability performance. MOL Group is the only company from the Central Eastern European region to be included in the index.