New Nafta Polska head appointed in wake of sale dispute

Marek Gutowski has been appointed the new chairman of Nafta Polska, the state agency in charge of the oil sector privatization, following yesterday' s decision by the company' s supervisory board to accept the resignation of Michal Frackowiak. The resignations of Frackowiak and other members of the board of directors were a result of a difference of opinion with the Treasury Ministry over the privatization of the oil sector. The matter was brought to a head when the ministry decided to sell to a sector investor the 18% stake held by Nafta Polska in PKN Orlen. In a related move, Austrian oil and gas group OMV AG yesterday said it had submitted a letter of intent to the Polish government confirming that it wants to buy an 18% stake in PKN Orlen, at a cost of around $340 million. Treasury Minister Aldona Kamela-Sowinska said yesterday that the key negotiations on the sale are likely to be completed before September 23rd, the date of the general election. In the wake of these developments, PKN Orlen' s shares yesterday closed more than 3% higher on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p.3, 15, Reuters) M.T.