Orlen boosts chances of buying Lithuanian Możejki by not having Russian partner

Domestic oil concern PKN Orlen will most likely not acquire a Russian partner, which would help increase its chances of purchasing Lithuanian refinery Możejki, as none of Russian companies are interested in cooperating with the Płock-based oil company. However, "We are not commenting on this information," said Dawid Piekarz, Orlen spokesman. The deadline for submitting preliminary offers for the refinery finishes on Thursday. "We have serious doubts whether such an alliance is possible at all," said Walerij Niestierow, specialist of Trojka Dialog, oil sector analyst. According to Siergiej Suwierow, analyst with Gazprombank, the only entity interested in this kind of cooperation would be Łukoil. "In such a case the consortium would have to be comprised of three entities, as Łukoil is already a partner of ConocoPhilips," said Suwierow. "Lithuanian authorities want an investor which will be dependent on the Russian government as little as possible," said Nestierow. (Parkiet, p. 3) M.M.