Lithuania in no hurry to sell oil terminal to PKN
VILNIUS, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said on Wednesday he sees no rush to sell majority state-owned oil terminal Klaipedos Nafta (KNF1L.VL) to Polish oil group PKN Orlen (PKNA.WA).
PKN, which already owns a Lithuanian oil refiner, said last month it wanted either to acquire a majority stake or a minority stake with operational control of Klaipedos. The state has 70 percent of the terminal.
"We see no arguments why we should rush to sell Klaipedos shares (to PKN)," Kubilius, who is due to travel to Warsaw next week, told journalists after meeting his economy and foreign ministers.
PKN wants to build a product pipeline to the state-owned oil terminal, its main export hub to Western markets.
"We see no link between building the product pipeline to Klaipedos and operational control of the terminal," he added.
He repeated the government was ready to sell its remaining 10 percent stake in the Mazeikiu refiner to PKN.
PKN has warned it might aim to transport its products via neighbouring Latvia if talks over Klaipedos fail.
Klaipedos reloaded 8.2 million tonnes of oil products in 2008, a 48 percent rise from the year before. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Sue Thomas)
