Support for sports and culture, community sponsorships

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In 2022, the ORLEN Group reinforced its position as the leading sponsor of professional and amateur sports in Poland. The recent years have seen rapid growth in its commitment.

90

sponsoring relationships with athletes

>70

sponsoring relationships with sports clubs

10

sports associations

The Company is now spending 180% more to support sports, culture and CSR activities than it did in 2015. The number of individual contracts with athletes and other sports competitors increased from 13 to nearly 100 during this period, with sports clubs – from 12 to over 70, and with sports associations – from 2 to 10. This fosters a positive brand image in the eyes of customers. 77% of respondents polled in the ARC Rynek i Opinia survey recognise the benefits of sponsorship in sports as well as technology and innovation.

The flagship sponsorship project of ORLEN was its cooperation with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, a Formula One team. The team came sixth in the constructors’ championship in the 2022 season. In this way, the Company consistently pursued its strategy to build global brand recognition, which is particularly helpful in promoting the brand outside of Poland, where more and more ORLEN service stations are being opened.

Last year, the Company again collaborated with Robert Kubica, its brand ambassador, who is invariably named among the most successful and recognisable Polish sportsmen. Kubica was a test driver for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN for the past year and participated in WEC (World Endurance Championship) races. While sporting the Prema ORLEN Team colours, he achieved a huge success together with his partners, climbing the podium of the legendary 24-hour Le Mans race as the first Pole in history.

Following the merger between ORLEN and the LOTOS Group, Kajetan Kajetanowicz made his debut on the ORLEN Rally Team. The most titled Polish rally driver competed in WRC 2, the World Rally Championship, and had another excellent year, climbing the podium for the fourth time in a row. He finished the 2022 season in the third place.

The ORLEN Team is also represented by competitors across various motorsport disciplines, who were remarkably successful in 2022. Bartosz Zmarzlik won his third title as an individual speedway world champion, Mikołaj Marczyk made his debut in the World Rally Championship, and powerboat racer Bartłomiej Marszałek zcame second and third during two final rounds in the F1H2O World Championship in Sharjah.

ORLEN Team members also gave an unforgettable performance in the world’s most famous off-road rally. In the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally, Kamil Wiśniewski was the first team representative ever to finish on the podium. The quad driver came third. In the car drivers’ competition, Kuba Przygoński took the sixth place, while motorcyclist Maciej Giemza came 18th.

The automotive world is at the heart of the Company’s business, which – aside from motorsport sponsorships – initiates measures to promote road safety. Safe driving courses were organised once again in 2022, with thousands of drivers taking part. A new edition of the #GoodDriver campaign was launched in 2022, this time focusing on the importance of building environmental awareness and attitudes. Robert Kubica, together with the youngest environmental consultants, demonstrated that everyone could contribute to environmental protection by making informed product and service choices. ORLEN Team drivers Mikołaj Marczyk and Jakub Przygoński took part in a special event of the ORLEN Foundation, which over the past 12 months renovated one of the wings of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw. The sportsmen met with the little patients and spent one day with them in the hospital, answering their questions and handing out small gifts.

The merger with the LOTOS Group was also very important in terms of sponsorship investments and implementation of sponsorship projects. ORLEN became the General sponsor of football, and it was football players who took part in the major sports event of 2022.

Competing in the FIFA World Cup held in late November and early December in Qatar. The White-and-Reds advanced to the knockout stage for the first time in 36 years, losing in 1/8 finals to France, who later finished as runners-up.

Last year was also the first year of ORLEN’s partnership with the Polish Ski Association. The 2022/2023 season started with successes, as Dawid Kubacki won the two World Cup opening competitions on the hill in Wisła. The Polish representative finished the year as the leader of the series. The cooperation between ORLEN and the Polish Ski Association goes beyond sponsoring the national team. As the General Sponsor of skiing sports in Poland, ORLEN is a partner in the ORLEN – In Search for the Champion’s Successors project, which scouts for new talent. The programme includes ORLEN Cup competitions, with young ski jumpers competing in boys’ and girls’ categories.

Last year was exceptional in terms of the cooperation between ORLEN and the Polish Volleyball Federation. ORLEN was the Main Sponsor of the Women’s and Men’s World Championships in Poland. While Poland and the Netherlands had been chosen to host the women’s IVF competition a long time before, the host for the men’s championship was re- selected in 2022, because of the Russian aggression on Ukraine. Russia was getting ready to host the competition but was excluded, and the hosting was re-assigned to Poland and Slovenia.

Poland was also successful on the court, with the men’s team winning silver, its third medal in a row. The female volleyball players also thrilled fans with their play and filled the country’s largest arenas. They reached the quarter-final stage of the World Championship, defeated by Serbia after an exciting struggle. The national team’s successes in the past year include taking the third place in the Volleyball Nations League. Beach volleyball players Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak were also outstanding, having won Beach Pro Tour Challenge tournaments in Mexico, Portugal and Qatar, as well as the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 tournament in Germany.

ORLEN invariably cooperates with the Polish Olympic Committee as a Strategic Sponsor. The Polish squad at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing was made up of 57 female and male athletes. They brought one medal home, a bronze one won by Dawid Kubacki in the ski jumping competition.

The Polish Paralympic Committee, on the other hand, delegated 11 competing athletes and four guides to China. The PKOl was responsible for the preparation of the Polish squad for the Sixteenth Summer European Youth Olympic Festival EYOF 2022 in Banská Bystrica. The Polish Youth Olympic Festival squad included 95 athletes and achieved the best result in history. They won 20 medals in Slovakia, claiming the 10th place in the medal table.

For the Polish Athletic Association, which has ORLEN as its Main Sponsor, the priorities for 2022 were to compete in the World Championship in Eugene and the European Championship in Munich. In the United States, Paweł Fajdek proved to be the world’s best hammer thrower, while Wojciech Nowicki and Katarzyna Zdziebło (two-time world vice- champion in racewalking) won three silver medals. When competing on the Old Continent, the White- and-Reds won 14 medals.

The Company’s support is channelled to sports associations as well as professional athletes who are members of the ORLEN Sports Group. They have been remarkably successful. For instance, Paweł Fajdek, already mentioned above, won his fifth consecutive gold medal in hammer throw at the world championship. Aleksandra Mirosław zbecame the European champion in speed climbing, beating the world record twice during the season.

European Athletics Championships, medals were won by Anna Kiełbasińska (bronze in 400 metres and relay), Iga Baumgart-Witan, Justyna Święty-Ersetic, Małgorzata Holub-Kowalik (4x400 metres relay), Sofia Ennaoui (bronze in women’s 1,500 metres run). Furthermore, Polish female athletes succeeded in the multi-sport European Championships in Munich: Marta Walczykiewicz won a bronze medal in kayak singles, while Urszula Łoś won two medals in track cycling, silver and bronze.

An effective system for training children and young people is one of the pillars of ORLEN Group’s sports sponsorship strategy. Athletic disciplines are extremely helpful in fostering health-oriented attitudes in children and young people, which is why the Company decided to sponsor a number of initiatives for young beneficiaries. The From Backyard to a Running Track programme covered more than 5,000 students nationwide, who competed in 10 tournaments. The Hooop Spoort project was carried out in 10 locations across Poland, involving 2,500 childrenfrom grades four to six. ORLEN is the main partner of the School Sports Club programme, as well as the Finals of Track&Field Thursdays.

ORLEN stepped up its partnership commitments to both professional and amateur cycling races. The Company sponsored Tour de Pologne Poland’s largest and most popular race. Furthermore, it was again the main partner of the ORLEN Race of Nations,where the best U23 cyclists competed sporting Poland’s national colours. Support was also provided to amateur competitive initiatives: the ORLEN Lang Team Race, including ORLEN Tour de Pologne Amateurs.

ORLEN has been consistently involved in professional sports sponsorships in Płock. The ORLEN Wisła Płock handball players had a very successful season, having won Poland’s Cup, a silver medal in PGNiG Superliga, and ranking third in the EHF European League.

The Wisła Płock football players finished the 2021/2022 season in the sixth place, and closed out the following autumn round in the same position. Support for the handball and football teams has a business as well as a CSR dimension. It is a manifestation of ORLEN’s commitment to the matters of Płock and the region as well as its understanding of the local community’s needs.

The Energa Group, member of the ORLEN Group since 2020, is also actively engaged in sports sponsorships, most of all through its extensive cooperation with the Polish Basketball Federation and title sponsorship of Men’s and Women’s Energa Basket League. Poland’s premier basketball league. In 2022, the Polish men’s national team advanced to the medal zone of the European Championship for the first time in 55 years. The Federation was also successful in the organisational context, as it was chosen to co-host EuroBasket 2025. Energa continued its partnership with the Amp Futbol Polska federation, the Energa MKS Kalisz clubs and its long- time partner Lechia Gdańsk. Energa is also the main sponsor of Tour de Pologne.

As a national giant, ORLEN also supports initiatives designed to protect Polish national heritage. In 2022, the Company continued its cooperation with the Grand Theatre – National Opera, having delivered 4 premieres, 23 repertoire performances, 26 concerts, 11 special projects and 19 educational projects.

A charity gala for Ukraine ‘We stand with you’ was held in April, with proceeds from ticket sales donated to help Ukrainian children. Overall, the events hosted by the Grand Theatre – National Opera attracted audiences of almost 300,000.

In 2022, the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute, supported by ORLEN, organised an event to commemorate the 212th anniversary of Chopin’s birth, which culminated in two concerts by Bruce Liu, the winner of the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition, dedicated to the victims of the war in Ukraine. The concerts were streamed on the YouTube channel of the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute and broadcast by Polskie Radio Program II. Liu also performed at the 18th Chopin and his Europe International Music Festival. 25,000 people attended 35 concerts (including piano recitals, chamber music and symphony concerts), most of which were freely available online and via Polskie Radio broadcasts.

Furthermore, ORLEN sponsored the 26th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival at the National Philharmonic. In April, a total audience of 11,000 filled the auditorium to listen to 11 symphony concerts and 2 piano recitals, and 60,000 more listened to radio broadcasts of the event.

For the fourth time, ORLEN was a patron of the Fourth Eufonie International Music Festival of Central and Eastern Europe. Inaugurated by the Vienna Symphony with Jan Lisiecki, the event included 13 concerts in Warsaw with nearly 600 performing artists. The programme of the Eufonie festival included three world premieres and three Polish premieres. Most of the concerts are available on the YouTube channel of the National Centre for Culture, which organised the festival.

In the previous year, the Company supported such institutions as Teatr Wielki-Opera Narodowa, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the National Museum in Poznań and the Museum of the History Monument – Frombork Cathedral Complex.

Initiatives supported by ORLEN to promote Poland included economic projects as well. During the Expo Dubai 2020, the Company was patron of the Chopin at Expo Dubai 2020 project. Thanks to this project, nearly 300 Chopin recitals by young pianists took place in the Polish Pavilion.

The Company is also committed to patriotic projects. ORLEN was a strategic partner of the HeroesON Warsaw Uprising Veterans Award, a recognition for individuals and institutions whose activities, in a remarkable manner, promoted the knowledge of Poland’s 20th century history, historical and patriotic education, and – starting from this year – also contemporary expressions of patriotism and upholding the values that guided the Warsaw Insurgents.

The Company was a golden patron of the 10th edition of the Wolf’s Trail Cursed Soldiers Memorial Run, which attracted as many as 70,000 runners all over Poland. ORLEN continued its support as the main patron of The Rebellious, the Invincible, the Cursed Festival. Over four festival days, more than 100 films were screened in Gdynia, along with 17 radio programmes and 15 music videos. There were also 26 panel discussions, 15 meetings with film directors, filmmakers and witnesses to history, nine exhibitions, five book promotions, and two gala events.

During the official ceremony of the 10th edition of the Guardian of Remembrance, project, of which ORLEN was patron, individuals and institutions that had been particularly involved in cultivating the memory of momentous events of Poland’s past were honoured with awards. The Company received a jubilee award on the 10th anniversary of the Guardian of Remembrance project for its unswerving commitment to commemorating key historical events and fostering Polish patriotism. In addition, the Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute presented the ORLEN CEO Daniel Obajtek with the Custos Virtutum – Guardian of Values award.

As part of community sponsorships, ORLEN supports organisations which save the lives and health of Poles on a daily basis. Just like in previous years, in 2022 ORLEN supported a number of them, including: theVolunteer Mountain Rescue Service, Volunteer Masuria Rescue Service, and Volunteer Water Rescue Service in Płock and Legionowo, to name just a few.

34 projects were completed in 2022 under the ORLEN for Płock programme, which has been in place for many years now. As a sponsor, ORLEN supports players of the Wisła Płock Sports Club Academy, where 450 boys and girls are advancing their football skills, as well as the Wisła Płock Physical Culture Association, which trains new generations of handball players. The Company is also engaged in sports activities of the Wisła Płock Volleyball Association, which prepares its players to participate in junior tournaments (with about 50 girls being now trained in the junior section). Training activity of the Club helps to promote sports, particularly volleyball, among young residents of Płock. During the summer holidays, two free week-long day camps offering sports, cultural and artistic activities were held for children and young people, attended by nearly 450 boys and girls.

ORLEN continued as a sponsor of the Hetman Płock Chess Club, whose activity contributes to developing sporting skills of children, youth, junior and adult players. The seniors won bronze in the 2022 Polish Blitz Team Championship in speed chess. The undisputed leader of the team and also the best player in the tournament was Petro Golubka, a chess player from Płock, who finished with a score of ten out of a possible eleven points. ORLEN sponsored the national and regional Children and Youth Show Jumping Championships organised at the Łąck Stud Farm near Płock, with 140 competitors from all around Poland. As part of the programme, the Company’s sponsorship support was also extended to the Orkan Sochaczew rugby players, who became Polish champions in the 2021/2022 season.

In the theatre seasons 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, ORLEN gave its patronage to the Płock Dramatic Theatre. The theatre has over 65,000 spectators per year, staging, on average, eight premieres each season. They include some of the best Polish and world classics, contemporary drama, farces, and comedies, as well as fairy tales for children. Performances are complemented by a range of accompanying events, such as exhibitions, discussions, workshop meetings, or theatre lessons combined with a tour around the theatre. ORLEN also became a sponsor of the Witold Lutosławski Symphonic Orchestra of Płock, which gave 35 concerts for audiences of almost 13,000.

The Company's cooperation with lifeguards of the Płock Water Volunteer Rescue Service (WOPR) continued: a lifeguarded bathing spot on Lake Górskie near Płock was organised for the sixth time, used by nearly 50,000 people during the summer holiday season. Free swimming lessons for children from grades four to eight and adults aged 40+ were held again, attended by 100 residents of Płock. The Company organised another series of educational and training classes on safe driving and specialist training to improve driving techniques. The project attracted almost 800 participants, including ORLEN employees and residents of Płock.