VILNIUS - Crude oil deliveries to Mazeikiu Nafta, the sole Baltic oil refining and transportation complex, were back to full swing on Feb. 10, yet uncertainty still surrounds the refinery, even after top executives met to discuss the issue with governmental officials last week.
The flow of crude to the refinery resumed Feb. 9 after a five-day suspension that had reportedly been caused by a glitch in payments to Transneft, Russia's oil pipeline monopoly. As a result Mazeikiu Nafta had to temporarily stop refining at a loss of about 1 million litas (290,000 euros) per day.
The supply crisis came less than two months after Russian authorities seized Yuganskneftegaz, a subsidiary of Russia's oil company Yukos, forcing the owner of Mazeikiu Nafta to find alternative sources of crude for the Lithuanian refinery.
Yukos will try to avoid any future supply interruptions to Mazeikiu, chairman Steven Theede told the Lietuvos Rytas daily. "In any case, Yukos has remained a rather large oil production company. Our subsidiaries Samaraneftegaz and Tomskneft produce about 600,000 barrels per day. We will spare no efforts to keep Mazeikiu Nafta in our hands, if we deem that feasible," he said.
When asked whether Samar-aneftegaz, a much smaller production unit that Yuganskneftegaz, would adhere to obligations on securing Mazeikiu Nafta's crude supply until 2012, Theede said that the company would stick to its obligations, adding that it was still unclear whether Russia's authorities would continue with the further liquidation of Yukos assets.
Should the Kremlin take Samaraneftegaz as well, the concern would have to reassess Mazeikiu Nafta's position within its system of assets, the chairman said.
Theede and two other top Yukos executives were in Vilnius last week to discuss the refinery-and-terminal complex's fate with government officials. The talks, however, were inconclusive.
It is apparent, however, that Yukos wants to keep the asset. Theede said that Mazeikiu Nafta was the concern's most valuable and successful investment in foreign markets. He stressed that the company's consent to launch talks - concerning the option to buy almost 10 percent in Mazeikiu Nafta 's did not signal the withdrawal of Russia's firm from Lithuania.
"We have agreed with Lithuania's government to establish a task group, which would work out proposals acceptable both for Yukos and Lithuania. We wish to have both parties satisfied with the outcome of talks," Theede said.
The government is eager to purchase an additional stake of almost 10 percent in Mazeikiu Nafta, effectively sweeping up a majority holding in the complex.
Yukos owns 53.7 percent of Mazeikiu Nafta, while the government holds 40.6 percent.
