VILNIUS - Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas on June 5 called on Lithuanians "not to panic" over developments around Russia's embattled oil company Yukos, which owns and controls the Mazeikiu Nafta oil refinery, saying that he was confident that the Russian company would not be forced into bankruptcy.
"Don't panic. If something actually happens, then we will speak. The troubles [at Yukos] have not affected us yet," Brazauskas told the Baltic News Service. "We are glad to see the company [Mazeikiu Nafta] and the [Butinge] oil terminal operating normally. A schedule for crude oil supplies for the whole July has been approved," he added.
Brazauskas said that he did not believe that Yukos could be pushed into bankruptcy because he saw no reason for doing so.
'If the company comes under the threat of bankruptcy, that is, if they move from words to deeds, then we will speak to the Russian government," he said.
Mazeikiu Nafta is Lithuania's largest company and the only oil refinery in the Baltics.
Vaclovas Karbauskis, chairman of Parliament's economics committee, said that he intended to ask refinery managers, the economy minister and other government officials to inform the committee whether or not Lithuania was ready to deal with problems at Mazeikiu Nafta should they arise.
He also said it was possible that other Russian oil companies might take interest in buying Yukos' holding in Mazeikiu Nafta.
"Russia is probably interested that a Russian company, for example, Lukoil buy Mazeikiu Nafta's shares from Yukos," the lawmaker said.
Financial analysts in Russia have warned that a huge tax bill, now doubled to almost $7 billion, will affectively leave Yukos vulnerable to bankruptcy
