Unipetrol unlikely to seek Ceska Rafinerska stake

WARSAW Nov 2 (Reuters) - Czech refiner Unipetrol (UNPEsp.PR), majority owned by Polish PKN Orlen PKNA.WA is unlikely to bid for a stake in Ceska Rafinerska, PKN Orlen chief executive Jacek Krawiec was quoted as saying on Monday.

Krawiec, who also heads Unipetrol's supervisory board, said it would be a good solution if the stake was instead bought by Mero, the Czech state-owned pipeline operator.

Unipetrol has posted three consecutive quarterly losses, a situation which may make the refiner more cautious about taking on new investment.

"Our situation is not comfortable in terms of potential acquisitions," he told the daily Parkiet. "Such effort would be worth making only if a price for the packge would be very attractive."

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is reportedly seeking a buyer for its 16.3 percent stake in Ceska Rafinerska, of which Unipetrol already controls 51 percent.

In October, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Tomas Huener said Mero was considering taking a stake in the country's main oil refinery Ceska Rafinerska to keep it out of Russian hands. [ID:nLM562929]

"It (Mero) is an investor, which could make cooperation easier and allow us to carry out some changes that we have raised earlier," Krawiec was quoted as saying, but did not elaborate. (Writing by Patryk Wasilewski, Editing by Michael Kahn and Hans Peters)