Herewith UNIPETROL a.s. informs that in the period between 4-20 October 2006 there will be unplanned maintenance shutdowns of main installations in two subsidiaries of UNIPETROL, a.s., Ceská rafinérská a.s. in Litvínov refinery and in CHEMOPETROL a.s. performed. Maintenance shutdowns are the consequences of technical problems which occurred in the steam cracker in CHEMOPETROL a.s. and in a new hydro-cracking unit of Ceská rafinérská a.s.In view of the very close links between both units' operations it was decided to match up these maintenance shutdowns to minimize the decline in profit for all the parties involved.
The technical shutdowns will decrease a production of fuels, other refinery products and also products based on ethylene and propylene of the companies, however due to the earlier accumulated supplies of raw materials in the companies the negative impact on the execution of business obligations towards customers will be minimized.
These maintenance shutdowns will however have an influence on UNIPETROL Group financial results in the 4th quarter of 2006. The said shutdowns in October 2006 however will allow UNIPETROL Group to limit a risk of potential strong effects on the Unipetrol Group results related to those installations in the future and operate smoothly and in a more efficient way during the next periods.