Company briefs - 2011-01-20

Estonia’s state power firm Eesti Energia on Jan 14 said it had signed a 950 million euro deal with France’s Alstom to build a new electricity plant, reports AFP. Eesti Energia spokeswoman Marina Bachmann said that senior company officials from both sides had inked the deal during a visit to Estonia by Pierre Lellouche, France’s foreign trade minister. Bachmann said the plant would be fired by oil from Estonia’s shale reserves. It will have up to two energy blocs of 300 megawatts each, with the first due to be completed by 2015. A decision on the construction of the second would be made in 2012, she added. The plant will be located next to an existing facility in Narva.

PKN Orlen, Poland’s biggest oil company, won’t sell its Lithuanian unit “at any price” even though the Mazeikiu refinery only broke even through the first nine months of last year, Orlen Chief Executive Officer Jacek Krawiec said on Jan. 14 in an interview in Gazeta Wyborcza, reports Bloomberg.  Krawiec said the Lithuanian refinery’s main problem remains high logistical costs. Orlen has received some “optimistic signals” from Lithuanian rail and port officials about negotiating lower tariffs and should know “soon” whether this will lead to cost reductions, the newspaper quoted Krawiec as saying.