Czech Rep: Shell to Sell Downstream Assets
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 21 October 2009 |
|
With Shell reorganising its downstream assets in many parts of Europe,
it is understood that Unipetrol which is part of the PKN Orlen group is
intersted in acquiring the Shell business.
Shell is seeking a buyer for its 16.3 percent stake in
Czech refinery Ceska Rafinerska and PKN Orlen's Czech arm Unipetrol may
be the buyer, PKN's chief was quoted as sayingCzech Unipetrol, in which
PKN has a 63-percent stake, already owns 51.2 percent of Ceska
Rafinerska, which operates as a processing plant for its owners.
"From what I know Shell is selling its stake and if the price is
attractive then we are able to raise our stake," PKN CEO Jacek Krawiec
was quoted as saying by news agency IS Business Wire.
Unipetrol has repeatedly said it would be interested in the Shell stake
but this was the first time any executive from either of the interested
companies said the stake was on offer. Rafinerska, the main Czech
refiner with annual capacity of 8.7 million tonnes of crude, operates
the country's main refineries in Litvinov and Kralupy. Italy's
ENI holds the remaining 32.4 percent stake in Rafinerska.
Russia's LUKOIL has been interested in securing Czech refining
capacity, which has raised concern in Czech government circles. Shell
also runs a chain of petrol stations in the Czech Republic.
PetrolWorld 021009
|
