Mazeikiu plans within the next 6 weeks to restart the old installation for vacuum distillation, which was closed 15 years ago, PAP reported yesterday. Also Lithuanian minister of Economy Vytas Navickas said in an interview fire broke due to technical reasons quoting the preliminary opinion of specialists.
Our view: We have already expressed our fears that the fire could have happened because the refinery assets of Mazeikiu are technologically outdated, thus it points out further negative sides of the deal between Mazeikiu and PKN. The old distillation unit, which has only half of the capacity of old burned one, will help the company to lower the negative financial impact of the accident. We regard the news as neutral for PKN Orlen.