Reports suggest sale of PKN Orlen may be called off

Unofficial reports suggest that the sale of a 17.5% stake in PKN Orlen is to be cancelled, and that the oil giant will remain in State hands. Unofficial sources quoted by Prawo i Gospodarka and Gazeta Wyborcza say that Nafta Polska, the company responsible for the oil sector privatization, has decided not to continue negotiations with either of the foreign investors interested in buying the stake, MOL of Hungary and OMV of Austria. At the beginning of October MOL was granted exclusive rights to negotiate the purchase. Under the agreement it signed with Nafta Polska, a decision on whether the talks should continue was to be made after a month. If no progress was being made, the talks would be cut short. According to sources quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza, this is the situation now. The governing Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) is opposed to the privatization of PKN Orlen, and Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek has said that the proposed sale could harm Poland's own chemicals industry. The Treasury stood to gain around zl.2 billion from the PKN Orlen transaction. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 20; Puls Biznesu, p. 11) A.K.