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Poland's PKN Orlen makes offer for Lithuania's stake in oil refinery
AFP
VILNIUS
Petroleumworld.com 04 14 06PKN Orlen of Poland has offered to buy a stake in the Mazeikiu Nafta oil complex from the Lithuanian government, even before Vilnius has completed talks on acquiring a majority holding in Mazeikiu from Russian oil giant Yukos.
PKN Orlen said here: "PKN Orlen today handed the Lithuanian government an offer to acquire 40.6 percent of shares in Mazeikiu Nafta.
"Furthermore, if the Lithuanian government should acquire the 53.7 percent stake in Mazeikiu Nafta from Yukos, PKN Orlen offers to buy that stake..." the statement added.
PKN Orlen did not reveal the offer price for either stake in the Lithuanian oil complex, which includes the sole refinery in the Baltic states, a pipeline and an offshore terminal.
The Lithuanian government is currently in talks with Yukos to buy its 53.7-percent stake in Mazeikiu Nafta, which carries with it management rights in the oil complex.
Lithuania's plan is to turn around and sell that stake, once it is acquired, to a third party, together with about 20 percent of the 40.6 percent of Mazeikiu already in the hands of the government.
Last year, Lithuanian officials estimated that the price for the 20 percent stake would bring about one billion litas (289 million euros, 346 million dollars) into state coffers.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said on Thursday that progress had been made when Yukos officials met with representatives of the Lithuanian government in Paris earlier this week, to discuss the sale of the Russian company's majority stake in Mazeikiu.
"I hope that agreements will be initialled soon by Yukos," Brazauskas said.
The government will then have to approve the agreement, which would be signed only after a new investor in Mazeikiu Nafta has been selected.
Together with PKN Orlen, Kazakhstan's state-owned Kazmunaigaz, joint Russian-British firm TNK-BP and Russian oil giant Lukoil have shown keen interest in buying Mazeikiu Nafta.
The Lithuanian government has said it is opposed to Orlen taking over Yukos' stake in Mazeikiu, as the Polish company does not have its own oil resources -- something Vilnius sees as a necessary precondition for a new investor in the refinery.
Sources in the government have said the cabinet favours Kazmunaigaz.
Officials at Orlen said Thursday they are certain the Polish company would be able to ensure a supply of crude to Mazeikiu Nafta.
The Polish company also said it is ready to invest up to one billion dollars in Mazeikiu and to increase the refinery's processing capacity to 11 million tonnes per year from its current level of around nine million tonnes.
AFP 04 13 06 1232GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
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