OFF THE WIRE

CRUDE SOLUTION: Ventspils City Council resolved on May 27 to allow the Ventspils Nafta oil terminal to accept crude oil delivered to it by railway as well. So far crude oil was delivered to Ventspils Nafta only by pipeline, therefore Ventspils Nafta applied at the City Council for an environment protection license for getting crude oil by rail. While allowing the company to receive crude oil shipments by rail the City Council also stated that the company in a month?s time has to supplement a project on the admissible emission of polluting substances in the air. Ventspils Nafta spokeswoman Gundega Varpa said some companies in Russia had voiced interest in handling oil delivered by rail. So far only oil products have been supplied in this way. Varpa said Ventspils Nafta had also considered the technological possibilities for handling crude oil supplied by rail. She said that due to the fact that a new cistern operation work bridge was commissioned in autumn 2000, it was possible to adapt one bridge, built back in the 1960s, for the crude. Ventspils Nafta is the largest oil and oil products handling terminal in Latvia. In the first four months of 2002 it handled 7.2 million tons of oil and oil products, down 6.5 percent year-on-year. (Baltic News Service)

CARD FRAUD: Banks in Lithuania are taking action to stop the growing number of cases where people use counterfeit or stolen bank cards to pay for goods or services. Vygintas Rakauskas, head of the payment card department at Vilniaus Bankas, Lithuania?s largest commercial bank, said cardholders making purchases for over 500 litas ($150) might be asked to produce a personal identification document. ?We have recommended that companies which have contracts for card payments with our bank apply this requirement. This is an extra security measure, which is advantageous both to companies and banks, as well as to customers themselves,? he told Baltic News Service. Hansa-LTB, the country?s second-biggest commercial bank, also applies this requirement. ?There?s a growing number of cases where people pay using payment cards that have been forged abroad. This happens in large shopping centers and stores selling luxury goods, that is, in places where a larger amount of money can be cashed in,? said Vitalijus Rancevas, director of the payment card department at Hansa-LTB. (BNS)

SWEET MERGER: Latvian candy maker Laima, and its owner Staburadze, also a confectioner, have began production reorganization by streamlining the production process and changing the product portfolio, involving a layoff of over 50 people. Laima and Staburadze Board Chairman Juris Jonaitis said the companies had launched production reorganization in line with market demand. Work is also underway to change the product portfolio to fully exclude production of unprofitable products. These moves are aimed at streamlining the production process at the companies. ?These employees will be offered employment at other production companies. Job interviews are planned already for this week so they can get new jobs, for example at the Aldaris brewery,? said Jonaitis. Laima and Staburadze are implementing a merger project envisaging several phases until the full merger of both companies. (BNS)

BANK BATTLE: Estonia?s Uhispank submitted to the Tallinn City Court in writing on May 23 its counterarguments in a suit filed by minority shareholder Kellyfield Ltd. seeking the revocation of an endorsement of majority owner Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken?s buyout offer. ?After a thorough study of the suit and added proof, Uhispank remains firm on the decision to contest the suit. The bank finds that the decision on the buyout of shares held by minority shareholders is legal and does not violate their rights,? Uhispank informed the Baltic News Service. Kellyfield Ltd., registered in Nassau capital of the Bahama Islands, owns about 10,000 Uhispank shares. The barrister Kaidar Sultson representing the company declined earlier this month to name shareholders in Kellyfield, only saying they were foreign companies. Sultson is also acting for LHV Arbitrage, a subsidiary of the investment bank Lohmus, Haavel & Viisemann, which holds more than 50,000 shares in Uhispank. A general meeting of Uhispank shareholders March 27 approved SEB?s bid to take over the shares still held by small shareholders and confirmed the price of the shares at 38 kroons ($2) per share, which equals the offer SEB made nearly two years ago. (BNS)

ISLAND FLIGHT: The aviation company Avies will from May 30 start charter flights from Kuressaare, the main town on the island of Saaremaa off Estonia?s western coast, to the Swedish island of Gotland; most bookings are for July. Margus Molder, manager of Avies? partner Arensburgi Reisid (Arensburg Travel), told the Saaremaa newspaper Meie Maa that not many flights are booked for June, but the first flight on May 30 is fully sold out. Quite a few passengers are also planning to fly in July. As it?s not an official service the trips to Gotland will take place only with sufficient demand. Molder said the 18-seat plane would take off with a minimum of seven or eight passengers. Because of that, the companies are not putting emphasis on selling tickets to individual passengers. If, on the other hand, a group has booked tickets, the remaining seats can be sold to individual passengers, Molder said. A one-way ticket costs 1,800 kroons ($105) and a round ticket, 2,770 kroons. The flight takes one hour. Avies will be flying to Gotland Thursdays and Sundays till Sept. 1. (BNS)

NO LOAN: Lithuania?s finance minister said on May 27 that the country would no longer seek to receive a $49.4 million loan from the World Bank that has been held up for nearly a year. The ministry ?decided not to proceed with the second tranche, since Lithuania?s budget position has now improved to the extent that this funding is not required at this time,? Finance Minister Dalia Grybauskaite said in a statement. The first tranche of $50 million of the World Bank?s structural adjustment loan was issued in July 2000, but Lithuania failed to make sufficient progress on promised reforms in the energy and agricultural sectors to unlock the remaining funds. (Agence France-Presse)