Lack of Poland-Russia gas deal could harm privatisations - PIPC

27 October 2009 16:10  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Poland’s failure to strike a long-term gas deal with Russia could hurt efforts to obtain good prices for privatising the country’s chemical companies, the Polish Chamber of the Chemical Industry (PIPC) said on Tuesday.

“If the problem of the gas supply is not solved, it may result in lower prices being offered by bidders,” said PIPC director Jerzy Majchrzak.

By the end of this year, Poland could be suffering an annual gas stockpile shortage of up to 0.5bn cubic metres, according to Majchrzak.

The country is currently only receiving Russian gas supplies arranged through short-term deals. Poland’s attempts at agreeing a long-term contract with Moscow have stalled.

Nafta Polska, the organisation responsible for the restructuring of Poland’s chemical industry, has requested binding offers to be in by November for the flagship package of the country’s chemical sector privatisation.

Representatives from Nafta Polska were unavailable to comment on how the gas stand-off could affect those offers.

But Krzysztof Grad, a spokesman for Poland’s largest chemical group, Ciech – the company that is the centrepiece of the flagship package of firms to be privatised – said unsecured gas supplies were an issue for companies up for sale by the state.

“But not for us so much. We don’t put so much gas into production. It’s more into heating and so on. This is more something of concern for the nitrogen-fertilizer producers,” he said.

Two of those, Zaklady Azotowe Tarnow (ZAT) and Zaklady Azotowe Kedzierzyn (ZAK), are also in the flagship package.

Another, Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy (ZAP), Poland’s largest fertilizer producer, is due to be privatised in 2010.

“If there is some kind of raw material problem with any company when it enters privatisation, then this will be an issue. But we have not even moved into privatisation process yet,” said Hubert Kamola, director of ZAP’s chemical division.

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By: Will Conroy
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