* Lotos to return to net profit in Q2
* Operating profit down y/y, weak margins
* CEO Olechnowicz reappointed for new term (Adds detail, background)
WARSAW, June 25 (Reuters) - Poland's second-largest refiner Lotos said it expected to post a net profit in the second quarter but may remain in the red for first six months after posting a 659 million zloty ($203 million) first-quarter loss.
Lotos Chief Executive Pawel Olechnowicz said on Thursday that operating profit in the second quarter would be lower than the 382 million zlotys recorded the year earlier due to poor refining margins and a two-week maintenance shutdown.
"We will certainly have net profit (in the second quarter). The question is if it is enough to make up for the first quarter loss," Olechnowicz said a news conference to announce his reappointment to lead the refiner for next three years.
Olechnowicz, who has held his job longer than any other top executive at a listed state-controlled company in Poland, is seen by many investors as a guarantor of the refiner's financial stability as it carries out its ambitious investment programme amid global economic turmoil.
The reappointment was widely expected, although some media speculated that the centre-right government might replace Olechnowicz, who was first appointed by a leftist government in 2002.
Lotos shares regained some of its earlier losses and ended the day 1.9 percent down at 20.89 zlotys, although it is still up 80 percent this year. (Reporting by Pawel Bernat; writing by Patryk Wasilewski; editing by Karen Foster and Karen Foster)