Poland afraid of LUKoil's expansion

LUKoil's President Vagit Alekperov will meet with Polish Prime MinisterLeshek Miller today. Alekperov will seek to persuade the Polish PrimeMinister of the fact that in a consortium with British Rotch Energy theRussian oil company will not take efforts to obtain control over the Gdanskoil-processing plant, in which LUKoil is planning to buy a 75 percent stakefrom Nafta Polska, a state-owned company. 51 percent of the plant's sharesare owned by Rotch and only 49 percent - by LUKoil, but despite LUKoil'ssmaller stake in the company, the Polish political circles fear the Russianoil giant, since the government's approval of the current members of thedeal will lead to LUKoil's takeover of the Gdansk oil processing plant andthe entire Polish oil market. In the meantime, in late August the Polish Property Minister said "thedecision about selling the Gdansk oil-processing plant will be made in aweek", and the government would abstain from influencing this process. Atthe same time, the Cabinet of Ministers is facing another problem:"assessing the political risks of the transaction". In fact, Nafta Polskahas already recommended that the Polish Property Ministry sell the Gdanskoil-processing plant to the consortium. However, Prime Minister LeshekMiller earlier voiced his negative stance on the Russian oil company'sparticipation in the deal, the Vremya Novostey newspaper reported. .

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