Petrobaltic and Energopol enter Lithuania seeking oil

Oil exploration company Petrobaltic, together with Energopol Trade and Lithuanian Arada, have signed a contract with Lithuanian authorities in which the consortium acquired 82% of Geonafta, the largest Lithuanian oil drilling company. The consortium paid zl. 58.5 million for the stake and has pledged to spend another zl. 63 million within the next five years. 'This is one of the largest Polish enterprises in Lithuania. The largest thus far has been the Huta Szkla Warta glassworks project, which invested almost $10 million,' said Jolanta Rydzewska, trade advisor at the Polish Embassy in Vilnius. Petrobaltic, which has recently been granted a license for oil drilling in the Congo, is now in talks with the copper conglomerate KGHM Polska and PKN Orlen as potential partners in the deal. Thus far only 5% of the oil refined in Poland has been of domestic origin and Petrobaltic's 240,000 tons of oil in 1999 supplied only 2.5% of the Polish market's demand. According to company authorities, Petrobalitc is going to produce 360 thousand tons of oil before the end of this year. (Puls Biznesu, page 4