Lithuania’s utility chief lashes out at Poland, Latvia

VILNIUS - Lietuvos Energija CEO Rymantas Juozaitis has criticized Poland and Latvia for helping delay the construction of an energy grid link between Lithuania and Poland that the Baltic state desperately needs if it is to survive the imminent shutdown of the Ignalina nuclear reactor. Concurrently, preparations on establishing Lithuania’s national energy utility, Leo LT, were completed on April 30 after months of delays. Juozaitis’ verbal attack at an energy forum on May 6 was not surprising given the intensity of the public debate on energy security in Lithuania. “Lithuania has done everything it had to do in this project. However, Poland is delaying the work since Warsaw is seeking as large share of output of the new nuclear power plant as possible, as large an influence in the e...  Full story...

  Taking Counsel: How strong is competition in Estonia’s ...
Estonia’s commercial banks in recent weeks have announced their economic results for 2007, and apparently they are doing very well. Even the smaller market players – e.g., Nordea Bank, Sampo Bank – showed remarkable results despite a smaller customer base and market share. However, it remains to be seen whether the banks’ profits were derived from effective commercial activities in the presumably ...

  Swedish firm purchases two Latvian forestry companies...
RIGA - Sweden’s Bergvik Skog, a forestry company, has announced that it is purchasing two Latvian companies to become the largest private forest owner in the Baltic state. The Dienas Bizness daily reported that after Bergvik Skog takes over Fraxinus and Ruda it will possess over 30,000 hectares of total forest property. Bergvik Skog’s chairman, Tobjorn Larson, told the paper that the transactio...

  Estonia to build oil shale plant in Jordan...
TALLINN - Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) announced on April 30 that it has signed a contract with the Jordanian government and the state-owned power company to build the Middle East country’s first oil-shale fueled power plant. Under the agreement, Estonian Energy will have the exclusive right to develop the construction of a 900 megawatt power plant, including all the lengthy preparations neede...

  Osinovsky: transit unlikely to return to Estonia...
TALLINN - Oleg Osinovsky, the much demonized transit businessman of Estonia, said in a rare interview that although Russian transit could return to the Baltic state it was unlikely to ever happen. “In theory it’s undoubtedly possible to return [the transit business], and completely,” he told Latvia’s Bizness & Baltija. “Another question is that for this to happen both sides – Estonia and R...

  Taking Counsel: Has springtime arrived for the real est...
As part of its anti-inflation plan last year, Latvia’s government adopted specific measures directed at the real estate market and the tightening of the money supply available through mortgage loans. Amongst the measures introduced was the requirment of a minimum down payment of 10 percent for acquisition of real estate. This meant that purchasers were supposed to come up with at least their own d...

  Estonian utility close to sealing deal with Jordan...
Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) announced that it was prepared to present the Jordanian government the results of oil shale surveys it conducted in the Mideast country and offer a plan for launching and developing an oil shale industry. CEO Sandor Liive told reporters on April 25 that there was a good probability that the proposal would bear fruit. He said Estonian Energy wants to obtain speci...

  Venerable yeast factory to shut down...
One of Riga’s oldest factories, Rigas Raugs (Riga Yeast), has announced that it will shut down operations in mid-May due to the unfavorable economic climate in both Latvia and the European Union, which is deregulating the sugar industry. The yeast producer, which was established in 1847, has been pinched by rising prices for molasses, a by-product of sugar production necessary for making yeast...

  Kirkilas demands bureaucrats get to bottom of capriciou...
VILNIUS - Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas has asked the Agriculture Ministry and the Competition Council to probe irregularities in the dairy market and to recommend measures to stabilize the topsy-turvy prices for milk. The order came just days after Transport Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said he had asked competition authorities to look into suspicions that dairy companies had reached a car...