PGNiG president Lipko faces dismissal next month

The next meeting of the supervisory board of Polish Oil and Gas (PGNiG) is e xpected to approve changes to the company's board of directors. Sources quot ed by Gazeta Wyborcza say PGNiG president Andrzej Lipko could face dismissal at the December 10 meeting. Lipko was largely responsible for the gas supply agreements signed in recent months with Norway and Denmark. The deals were p art of previous Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek's strategy of diversifying Poland 's gas sources. But both agreements have been subject to harsh criticism fro m the present Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) government, as well as from Ale ksander Gudzowaty who controls Bartimpex, the company acting as the intermed iary in the supply of Russian gas to Poland. Gazeta Wyborcza's sources sugge st three possible candidates to take over should Lipko be dismissed. They ar e Stanislaw Specik, head of the Institute of Geology, former Finance Ministe r Andrzej Wroblewski, and Michal Kwiatkowski, president of Poland's biggest coal exporter, Weglokoks. Kwiatkowski, a major Bartimpex business partner, i s considered the favorite for the top job at PGNiG. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 28) P.J.