Such are the conclusions from the discussions of the heads of the Hungarian concern MOL and the largest Polish companies operating in this sector regarding the consequences of the world crisis. All participants in the panel entitled 'The fuel sector in times of crisis; key challenges and opportunities' admitted that they have been forced to cut their investment outlays while maintaining crucial projects, and to tighten budget discipline, and that, at the same time, the crisis brought about some problems which had been difficult to see before.
„The crisis also has its good sides,” argued the president of the Hungarian company Zsolt Hernadi. „Earlier, in Hungary, hardly anyone paid attention to issues regarding energy security because it seemed that there would be no problems in this regard. In the meantime it turned out that even our very good results could not protect us against an attempted hostile take-over.”
For a few months now, the management of MOL and the government in Budapest have been trying to protect the concern against Russian influence. A few months ago, the Russian company Surgutnieftiegaz unexpectedly became the owner of about 20% of MOL’s shares. This was a signal for the Polish government that it was necessary to protect the largest national fuel manufacturer, PKN Orlen, against similar actions and to strengthen the Lotos Group.
„For the owner of such companies (the state) it is of crucial importance to guarantee the financial safety of these companies and to keep their shares,” explained Vice Minister of the Treasury Mikołaj Budzanowski during the panel discussion. „This is why we have decided to introduce changes in the Articles of Associations of Orlen and to increase the capital of Lotos by bringing the rest of the shares of the excavation company Petrobaltic into its fold.”
[srodtytul]Integration will wait[/srodtytul]
