Treasury to decide RG's fate in June
By Karol Chlipalski
The treasury ministry will likely decide at the end of June whether Rafineria Gdańska (RG) will be acquired by a strategic investor or remain independent and consolidate with southern refineries.
Paweł Olechnowicz, RG's president, met with treasury minister Piotr Czyżewski at the end of last week to try to persuade him to keep RG an independent company, rename it Lotos Group and have it acquire several smaller cash-strapped refineries in southern Poland.
"(His) arguments must have been strong since everybody seemed to be satisfied after the meeting," said Janusz Kwiatkowski, a treasury ministry spokesman. "(As a result), the minister will take into consideration arguments supporting the creation of Lotos Group and the development program worked out in Gdańsk."
Kwiatkowski added that the final decision on topics discussed at the meeting would be made next month.
Olechnowicz and Gdańsk-area politicians back the idea to create Lotos Group, which would use RG as its cornerstone and consolidate small refineries in Trzebinia, Krosno, and Jasło. Petrobaltic, a company specializing in oil extraction from the Baltic Sea, would also reinforce this new corporate entity.
Especially given the recent privatization summit, industry analysts say that RG's potential to form Lotos Group is stronger than ever. They point specifically to RG's recent announcement that it would sign contracts with Lockheed Martin based on the offset agreements from the country's much publicized purchase of F-16 fighter jets.
The contracts would target investments in facilities that exploit heavy waste from the petrochemical industry. Oil concerns Kellogg Brown & Root and Royal Dutch/Shell are also to be involved in €435 million-€783 million ($500 million-$900 million) of investments, which would increase RG's business capacity.
Should Olechnowicz's brainchild become reality, Lotos Group would compete with oil giant PKN Orlen, which, along with Britain's Rotch Energy, tried to participate in a tender to buy RG. The tender was eventually cancelled.
