News Parkiet

Petrochemicals

Poland may lose chance to swap

debt for oil licenses

Poland may lose its chance to swap outstanding third-world debt for access to oilfields in the Middle East and parts of Africa. The country?s Finance Ministry has been working on a debt for oil swap as recently as eighteen months ago, but none of these plans have progressed very far. Oil privatization agency Nafta Polska tried to use Syria?s debt in a bid to win oil concessions there over a year ago, but lost to other bidders. Sources close to the situation Nafta had just six months to use Syria?s more than 260-million dollar debt to negotiate the deal there, giving the government agency too little time to work on its bid. Despite the debacle, Nafta Polska is working on two other bids in Libya and in Syria.

Poland has over 1.25 billion dollars worth of outstanding debts owed by several countries in Asia and in Africa. Iraqi debts account for almost two-thirds of that amount.

Packaging

Plast-Box still looking for a white knight

Plastic packaging manufacturer Plast-Box S.A. says it is no longer talking with potential trade buyers on the sale of publicly traded company. A small firm from Słupsk on the Baltic coast, Plast-Box has been bleeding money because of sky-high prices of oil, a key production input. It was put on sale by its founders earlier this year. Chief executive Waldemar Pawlak says the company has talked briefly with Poland?s Boryszew chemicals group, as well as Danish Superfos and Jokey from Germany.