(76 USD, 0,20%) plans to spend $100 billion on acquisitions and projects in the next 10 years, and it's interested in acquiring refineries in eastern and central Europe, for which US$ 9bn was earmarked. The Moscow-based company has considered investing in (45 EUR, 1,27%), (56 PLN, -0,36%) Orlen and (25 380 HUF, -0,67%). According to , protectionism in eastern European is curbing the company's investment in the region's refiners.
Our view:
It is not the first time stated its interest in CEE refiners. Due to hawkish export duty regime in Russia, the company is seeking to refine crude outside the country. Central European refineries are the most attractive target for due to its proximity to Druzhba pipeline and export markets. Similar to the company, we believe that existing protectionism is the major hurdle in their plans, which makes the acquisition of Polish and Austrian impossible in the mid-term. There is looser situation with , due to takeover story, but still at current political environment we see it very unlikely that Hungarian government as well as MOL’s management could agree to tie up with the Russians