Hungarian MOL flirts with idea of consolidation of Central European oil firms

"In a year or two, petroleum companies in Central Europe should undertake a decision about the strategy of consolidation in order to survive," said Janos Csak, president of Hungarian Petroleum Company MOL. He has met a few times with the management of Polski Koncern Naftowy (PKN) and discussed briefly this matter. He also says, "There are big chances that a huge petroleum company, ranging from the Baltic to the Adriatic, will be set up." If PKN does not decide on consolidation he says it will have to fight for the Polish market with neighbors. In his opinion MOL as an oil company is in a better situation than PKN, mostly because telecom shares are the biggest part of PKN's value. Csak said also that his company would not participate in the privatization of Rafineria Gdanska as it is too far away from their area of activity. MOL had a net profit of about $139.1 million in 1999 and PKN had about $146 million. (Rzeczpospolita, May 2-3, page B3) M.M.