There is business and "business".

[Henry Alminas]

For educational purposes only:

One of the many, many reasons that Russia
is pissed off at Lithuania was the latter's
unwillingness to sell Lukoil a share of
Mazeikiu refinery.

Well, I guess Bulgaria did sell a share of
their refinery - read on...

Best - - Henry

Greeks warned against LUKoil bid

Moscow, Russia, Mar 01, 2002 (RosBusinessConsulting
via COMTEX)

-- A group of international investors has warned the Greek
government that a bid by Russian oil major LUKoil to buy
the state-owned share of Hellenic Petroleum could adversely
affect the refinery's future profitability and investment.

"If LUKoil wins the Hellenic Petroleum privatization," a
group member said, "and if it behaves as it has done in
Bulgaria, then Greek asset risks serious devaluation, even
losses.

" A deadline of March 8 has been set for the submission
of bids to buy a 23 percent state shareholding in Hellenic
Petroleum. LUKoil has publicly confirmed its interest in
bidding, in partnership with the Latsis Group. LUKoil
is facing charges that it has used its control over the
Neftochim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria to overcharge for
crude oil supplies and underpay for the refinery's processing,
in order to strip value from the Bulgarian company and
its plant.

"LUKoil's transfer pricing, value destruction and lack of
fair and transparent practices with respect to minority
shareholders set an extremely damaging precedent," one
of the investors said. The group, which holds about 18
percent of the refinery's shares, includes Vostok Nafta
Investment Ltd., a Stockholm-listed investment company,
and portfolio funds managed by Fintech, Firebird and
Emergent Fund Management.

"We and other shareholders are very worried that
continued concerns about shareholder-rights abuses
may derail LUKoil's plans to further expand into
downstream refining in Bulgaria and Greece," Ian
Hague of Firebird recently wrote to LUKoil Chief
Executive Vagit Alekperov, the Russia Journal wrote.

[Jonhillr]

That is some nice reporting Henry.

Always good to read about 'hard-ball' dealings and how they pertain to the
standard of living of our folks.

Russkies have been attempting to purchase major holdings in Latvia's pipeline ,
storage, refining, and transport sectors for a number of years.

The main sticking point seems to be that they want 'controlling' percentage of
the stock.

...And when the deals fall through... then we again experience 'technical
difficulties' in crude deliveries (just as Lithuania does).

jonhill