Five companies want Belarusian energy debt

VILNIUS - One local and four foreign companies expressed intentions to take part in the tender, called by the state-run power utility Lietuvos Energija, to acquire the Belarusian energy debt worth $50 million.

The deadline to submit bids to acquire the debt expired Feb. 5, and one or two of companies, with which the competitive negotiations would be conducted, would be selected Jan. 12, Algirdas Kirklys, head of the procurement division of Lietuvos Energija, told the Baltic News Service.

Kirklys didn't indicate the name of companies willing to acquire the Belarusian debt, but he confirmed that Inter RAO JES, a Jedinaja Energeticheskaja Sistema Rosija company, often quoted by the media as a potential buyer of the debt, didn't submit a bid.

The settlement for the debt, which has decreased by 24 million litas ($6 million) since the spring, will be accepted in cash, fuel oil and gas. However, Lietuvos Energija gives preference to receiving cash.

It is the second time the tender to sell the debt of the energy concern Belenergo for the electricity supplied in 1998 - 1999 is announced. A tender to sell 224 million litas' worth of debt announced in May failed when the State Audit Office didn't approve of Lietuvos Energija's intentions to sell the debt for 40 percent of its value.

Kirklys didn't indicate what portion of the debt potential buyers intended to acquire, but he said that preliminary data would be announced next week after the commission had discussed the bids.