The Hungarian MOL has announced that it is still interested in participating in the privatisation of the Gdansk refinery or PKN Orlen despite having been very much pushed onto the side lines over the past year or so. It’s chances of making an acquisition in Poland are not looking good. MOL has decided that in order to get round this unfortunate turn of events it needs allies and potential partners include the Slovakian Slovnaft, PKN Orlen amongst western and Russian concerns. It is well aware that in most of these cases it is going to need the say so of the Polish authorities.
MOL has kept mum about its plans for the Polish market. Lukoil and PKN Orlen have taken completely the opposite approach. Wagit Alekpierow, the head of Lukoil, has said quite openly that he is prepared to place USD274m into the Gdansk refinery and ‘pump’ (to use his word) as much as USD500m into the Polish economy. MOL insists that it has got the cash to see through even very large development projects in the Gdansk refinery but it has not given details on the source of this income. It is arguing that it can give the refinery a better deal than can the Rotch - Lukoil consortium or even PKN Orlen.