VILNIUS - Owners of Mazeikiu Nafta are considering three different routes for an oil products pipeline to the Baltic Sea, according to reports.
A Klaipeda daily wrote on Feb. 28 that PKN Orlen is considering a pipeline to Butinge, Klaipeda, or even Latvia.
The first option would be to the Butinge oil terminal, which it owns, and would require building an offshore buoy for loading oil products onto tankers.
The second option, to Klaipeda, would be more economical, but it may face opposition from the state railway operator, Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railway), which does not want to lose its share of the oil transportation market.
The third option has arisen by default, as Polish-based PKN Orlen threatened to build a pipeline to Latvia if it fails to reach a deal with the Lithuanian government on acquiring a stake in Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil), an oil terminal.
In this context, both Liepaja and Ventspils have been mentioned as an option, though Liepaja, a former Soviet naval port, lacks the infrastructure, the paper reported.
Meanwhile, PKN Orlen's supervisory board announced it had suspended CEO Piotr Kownacki for an indefinite period following his criticism of the new government.
The recently-appointed supervisory board said in a statement Feb. 28 that Kownacki had taken actions that led to a "significant worsening" of the company's image.
"These actions include statements of political character, pulling the company into current political disputes," it said. The supervisory board, which underwent significant changes in early February, expressed hope that Kownacki's suspension would help rebuild "a non-political working atmosphere" in the company.
The Polish Treasury Ministry and the state-owned Nafta Polska jointly hold a 28 percent stake in PKN Orlen.
