Refinery bids pour in as Poland-Lithuania relations decline

  • 2010-11-02
  • TBT Staff

Orlen Lietuva may be sold off following the closure of a major access railway.

VILNIUS - Poland's PK Orlen has begun receiving bids on its Lithuanian oil refinery.

The company announced its intentions to sell its Lithuanian subsidiary - the country's only working oil refinery - after an access railway was dismantled. Orlen claims that without the railway it's refinery is no longer profitable.

PKN Orlen chief Jacek Krawiec said on Polish radio that they had received offers, but that they would not reveal any names until prices had been established.

SPAT

The decision to sell the refinery has been one of the driving factors in increasing tension between the two countries, which have always had good relations in the past.

Last week the Polish foreign minister accused Lithuania of failing to live up to it's commitments to Polish investors. Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the comments were "surprising" and "hurtful". 

The two countries also have a long-standing disagreement about the treatment of Polish minorities in Lithuania.