Alminas Mačiulis, the government's chancellor and the head of the working group, said that the proposal came from Orlen Lietuva, but the group will look into all possible options for improving the refinery's oil product logistics.
"The working group has been tasked with discussing oil product logistics, the conditions and alternatives. The product pipeline proposal is not new, it had reached the former government, but we will evaluate this anew. I cannot say what model will be proposed: either it will be a product pipeline, or some alternative supply logistics. We will discuss the effectiveness of options and the size of needed investment," he told BNS.
Orlen Lietuva officials said last year that the company planned to start building a product pipeline in 2014 and to complete it in 2017.
Based in earlier estimates by Orlen Lietuva, investments in the project would amount to some 110 million US dollars.
Since the acquisition of the Mažeikiai crude refinery in 2006, PKN Orlen has sought influence in the state-controlled oil product terminal operator Klaipėdos Nafta, which is currently building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipėda, a project of strategic importance for Lithuania.
Krystian Pater, the then CEO of Orlen Lietuva, said in 2009 that the company would build a product pipeline between Mažeikiai and Klaipėda, but it wanted long-term guarantees regarding influence in Klaipėdos Nafta.
The Polish group wanted to buy a stake in Klaipėdos Nafta and build a product pipeline from the Mažeikiai refinery to the oil product terminal. Pipeline transportation is cheaper than moving products by rail.
