PKN Orlen begins construction of biofuels facility

Top fuels firm PKN Orlen announced on Tuesday that it intends to keep its 19.6% stake in mobile telephone company Polkomtel despite the hefty in vestment needed to buy the Gdansk Refinery. "The management is not con sidering selling the stake because we still believe that its value will increase," Orlen chief executive Zbigniew Wrobel told reporters at a news conference at its southern refinery in Trzebinia, which yesterday began construction of an installation to produce biofuels. Wrobel also said the Trzebinia refinery, in which Orlen has a 77% stake, would have sales of zl. 1.2 billion this year and a net profit close to zl. 55 million. It is to become the hub of Orlen's biofuels production, commencing production in 2004, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 tones of methyl ester. (Reuters; Parkiet, p.1; Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.K.