PKN Orlen to buy Mazeikiu Oil by Christmas

  • 2006-11-22
  • From wire reports
VILNIUS - It looks like Polish company PKN Orlen is on Santa's good list this year. And if all goes well, the firm will have Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta under the tree by Christmas.

A lot has occurred during the PKN Orlen deal: the June shut-down of Russia's crude pipeline, a major fire at Mazeikiu Nafta, an attempted coup to oust the company's current CEO. After all of this, EU regulatory approval is expected by Dec. 15.
"It would make a nice gift for everyone if we managed to sign the deal by Christmas," PKN Orlen president Igor Chalupec told Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas in Warsaw on Nov. 18.
Kirkilas and Chalupec agreed that Lithuanian and Polish specialists should meet in the coming weeks to harmonize technical matters.

PKN Orlen agreed in May to buy a 53.7 percent stake in Mazeikiu Nafta from Russia's Yukos, which faces bankruptcy, for $1.5 billion. In June, it signed a $852 million deal with the Lithuanian government to buy another 30.66 percent of shares, which gives the Polish group an 84.4 percent stake in the Lithuanian oil refining and transportation complex.
On Nov. 7, European Commission competition authorities gave the green light for PKN Orlen to acquire up to 100 percent of shares in Mazeikiu Nafta.