Lithuanian minister has no data on Orlen’s planned exit — RMF24

Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation Edvinas Grikšas said that he has no information about the Orlen Group’s planned exit from the country. He was responding to statements by the company’s management regarding the future of the oil refinery in Mažeikiai, RMF24 reports.

The Lithuanian minister’s position

According to Grikšas, the Lithuanian side does not have sufficient data to consider different scenarios. The minister noted that it is currently unclear what exactly such developments could mean and what they could lead to. He added that the issue should not be given excessive importance for now.

Orlen analyzes investments in Mažeikiai

The day before, Orlen chief executive Ireneusz Fąfara told PAP Biznes that the company is analyzing the feasibility of additional spending to complete the project for a deep oil refining unit at the Mažeikiai refinery. He named abandoning the investment and the risk of closing the Lithuanian refinery as an alternative.

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According to sources close to the company, between $600 million and $700 million is needed to complete the project. Over the past 20 years, the Orlen Group has invested more than $5 billion in acquiring and modernizing the plant: about $2.3 billion in its purchase and $2.8 billion in modernization. During this period, Orlen Lietuva generated a total of approximately $1 billion in profit.

Fąfara described the asset as deeply unprofitable from a purely financial perspective. According to him, the plant’s average annual net profit was around $50 million and did not correspond to the scale of the funds invested. He also noted that in recent years, the plant’s operation had been justified by the absence of additional losses.