Lithuania open to talks on terminal sale-PM

WARSAW, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Lithuania is ready to discuss the sale of its oil terminal Klaipedos Nafta (KNF1L.VL) to Polish oil company PKN Orlen PKNA.WA but sees no immediate need to clinch the deal, its prime minister said on Wednesday.

PKN, which owns Lithuania's sole oil refiner, Mazeikiu, said last month it wanted to acquire a majority stake in Klaipedos or a minority stake with operational control. The state has 70 percent of the terminal.

"For the time being we don't see an economic need to sell Klaipedos Nafta to anybody, but it is still a question for further dicussions," Andrius Kubilius told a news conference following a meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

PKN is seeking control over Klaipedos to build a product pipeline from Mazeikiu to the terminal, its main export hub to Western markets, and cut costs.

PKN Chief Executive Jacek Krawiec warned earlier this week the company may be forced to scale down its investments in Mazeikiu and accelarate layoffs unless Lithuania agrees to hand over control of Klaipedos.

Kubilius said Lithuania will carefully consider PKN requests to improve the logisitics around the refinery and will try to resolve this issue in consulations with the Polish refiner.

PKN has said 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.

PKN bought Mazeikiu for $2.8 billion in 2006 and pumped another $700 million into the company, but has so far failed to significantly boost its efficiency, analysts say.

(Reporting by Piotr Skolimowski; editing by David Cowell)