“The companies are talking and we’re looking forward to at least a memorandum-of-understanding agreement quite soon,” Lithuania’s Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovič said in an interview to Bloomberg in Poland.
Rokas Masiulis, Klaipėdos Nafta CEO, told BNS that the results of those discussions would be made public later.
“We have been authorized by the Energy Ministry to negotiate the construction of a pipeline to the terminal of Klapėdos Nafta. The process continues and its results will be made public once there are any results,” he told BNS.
“We need to see a win-win situation, with benefits for Orlen Lietuva, PKN Orlen and also for Klaipėdos Nafta,” Neverovič said. He added that a memorandum on the project’s terms could be signed by the end of the year.
PKN Orlen’s investment committee approved the refined products pipeline project in June. Orlen Lietuva estimates that investments in the pipeline, which is necessary for the exports of its refined petroleum products, would reach approximately 110 million US dollars (LTL 295.5m, EUR 85.6m).
PKN Orlen told BNS in August that it had already started the initial engineering stage of the pipeline project and was now considering various construction scenarios. The company plans to start building the refined products pipeline as early as in 2014 and to complete the pipeline in 2017.
PKN Orlen sought to gain influence at Klaipėdos Nafta since its acquisition of Mažeikiai refinery back in 2006. 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 as to influence in the state-owned petroleum products terminal operator .
Lithuanian authorities then said that they would not sell shares in Klaipėdos Nafta because the state had to retain operational control of the company.
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.
