Government likely sell Rafineria Gdanska before stake in PKN Orlen

The State Treasury is seriously considering aborting the planned sale of a 17.6% stake in oil giant PKN Orlen. Last year, MOL of Hungary had been selected to hold exclusive negotiations on acquiring the stake, but the deal has been formally put on hold until the sale of Rafineria Gdanska, Poland's second largest oil firm, is concluded. However, now the Treasury looks likely to abandon the PKN Orlen tender altogether, citing the strategic importance of the company for national security as the primary reason. The long-discussed consolidation of Central European oil firms - PKN, MOL and Austria's OMV, would still be possible though, but rather through an e xchange of shares between the companies themselves. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B1) T.J.