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Polish refinery Rafineria Gdańska and fuel importer Unimot have been put on a protected entities list by the Polish government after concerns were raised over Rafineria Gdańska’s sale to Saudi firm Aramco.
Earlier this year, Poland’s biggest fuel firm, PKN Orlen, took over its smaller peer Lotos but was required by the European Commission (EC) to divest parts of the newly acquired company. Orlen decided to sell a 30-per cent stake in Lotos’s Rafineria Gdańska to Saudi Aramco and 417 Lotos petrol stations in Poland to Hungarian fuel firm MOL. As part of the EC requirements, Unimot bought a stake in Lotos too.
But opposition parties raised concerns that the Saudi share could pose a security threat to Polish fuel supplies.
On Thursday, the government added Lotos and Unimot to a list of 13 other protected companies which include the fuel leader PKN Orlen, fertiliser producer Azoty, copper miner KGHM and a few telecom companies.
In a rationale for the decision, the government said the move was designed to prevent an uncontrolled sale of the stake in Rafineria Gdańska.
The Ministry of State Assets said that Rafineria Gdańska holds an important share of the Polish refinery market and is a significant supplier of engine fuels in the country.
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