VILNIUS, September 27 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Vodo) - The head of Russia's largest crude producer LUKoil, Vagit Alekperov, met the Lithuanian prime minister, Algirdas Brazauskas, Tuesday to discuss buying the government's share in Mazeikiu Nafta holding the only crude oil refinery in the Baltic states, the premier said.
The prime minister said the price of the share had not come been considered.
Alekperov said he had arrived in Lithuania "to make sure that Lithuanian politicians have nothing against LUKoil obtaining a share in Mazeikiu Nafta."
LUKoil proposed earlier to link Western Siberian oil deposits to Mazeikiu Nafta's oil refinery in Majeikai, Lithuania, and to European consumers.
Since the early 1990s, LUKoil has tried twice to gain control over Mazeikiu Nafta but the U.S.-based Williams International, a pipeline manufacturer, got hold of the company in October 1999.
In response, LUKoil suspended oil supplies to Majeikai. Williams International sold its share to Yukos a few years later, but the Lithuanian side had to cover all the expenses under a deal with the American company.
Alekperov said: "Mazeikiu Nafta could not have a better partner and a more logical technological scheme that would link LUKoil deposits to the Majeikai oil refinery and to consumer network in Poland, Kaliningrad and Baltic nations."
He said LUKoil was the only oil company that had been operating on the Lithuanian market for 15 years. Alekperov added that the majority of those who said that LUKoil raised political risks, nevertheless filled their cars at LUKoil gas stations.
LUKoil has a network of over 100 gas stations in Lithuania. "Our partners from ConocoPhillips have confirmed their readiness to participate in the [Mazeikiu] project, and I think that an alliance of the kind would be the most convenient solution for Lithuanian consumers," Alekperov said.
He also said that LUKoil "will not purchase Mazeikiu Nafta shares only in case the price is too high."
After his meeting with Brazauskas, Alekperov denied that LUKoil had entered talks with Yukos over its share in Mazeikiu Nafta.
Yukos Finance, a Yukos subsidiary registered in the Netherlands, owns 53.7% in Mazeikiu Nafta, and the Lithuanian government 40.66%.
Alekperov said Yukos and the Lithuanian government had not formulated terms for selling their shares in Mazeikiu Nafta, and it was still unclear whether they would sell the shares separately, or the Lithuanian government would sell 74% altogether.
Earlier, the Lithuanian prime minister called LUKoil one of the top three contenders for Mazeikiu Nafta along with the Russian-British TNK-BP and Austria-based Baltic Holding.
After Gazprombank, a subsidiary of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, and Austria's Jurimex sold their shares in Baltic Holding, its only shareholder was Petrochemical Holding owned by Yakov Goldovsky, the former president of the Siberian-Urals petrochemical company.
Brazauskas said Tuesday that Baltic Holding had the slimmest chances, as it had "neither raw materials nor the market."
If potential buyer of the Yukos share does not suit the Lithuanian government, it can apply the right to buy out the share itself. The prime minister said the ruling coalition had decided to postpone consideration in parliament of the bill to authorize the government to a $1.05 billion loan to buy out Yukos's 53.7% in Mazeikiu Nafta. Financial experts pegged the market price of Yukos's package at $1.5-2 billion.
After buying Yukos's share, the Lithuanian government plans to sell most of its shares, retaining only 10%.
