Orlen quashes rumors

PKN Orlen has dismissed media speculations that it may sell the Lithuanian refinery Mazeikiu to Russian oil giant Lukoil. The firm has applied to the European Commision for permission to takeover Mazeikiu Nafta. During a visit to Vilnius, where he met the Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, PKN Orlen's president Igor Chalupec denied the company was in talks with Lukoil. "We won't be commenting on what I call rubbish information in the future," he said.

The rumors have been circulating ever since Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft halted the supplies of oil to the Baltic refinery. Industry experts claim that with this decision, Moscow is punishing Vilnius for selling Mazeikiu to Orlen rather than a Russian company. Lukoil also dismissed the media reports about talks with the Polish company. Orlen announced last week that it had received the go-ahead for the takeover of Mazeikiu from the US Federal Trade Commission and Ukraine's Trade Commission, and is still waiting for the European Commission's approval.

At the same time, the business daily Parkiet reported that Orlen might withdraw from the German market as it had allegedly received offers to buy its subsidiary Orlen Deutschland.

"Media speculations appear every day," commented Paweł Poręba from Orlen's press office. "If something happens we will communicate the events," he said.

Orlen has been present on the German market since 2002. It currently owns 494 gas stations in Germany, which gives it a three-percent market share in the country and a seven-percent regional market share. In H1 of 2006 Orlen Deutschland posted zł.10.2 million in net profit from retail activities, compared to zł.7.68 million in the same period of last year.