Rafineria Gdanska delays $1 billion investment plan

Rafineria Gdanska (RG), Poland's second largest oil refiner, announced yesterday that it has decided to postpone its $1 billion five-year investment program until it secures a strategic investor. The RG statement was followed by a declaration from MOL, a Hungarian oil and gas group and one of the two bidders for a majority stake in RG, that if it were chosen as strategic investor it would support the Polish refinery's program. However, after the first three months of 2001, the Hungarian concern reported a net loss of $40 million, compared to a net profit of $98.3 million in last year's first quarter, and an operating profit of $0.3 million against $138 million last year. This declining performance is mainly due to losses incurred by MOL from its subsidiaries dealing with natural gas processing and sales, and the company is now considering the sale of these unprofitable entities. (Reuters; Parkiet, p.4) M. S.-C.