Halychyna Refinery To Boost Production.

After a meeting with Halychyna’s new management team, the head of the Lviv regional state administration Petro Oliynyk announced that the refinery plans to increase crude refining by 1.8 times yoy, to 1.91 mln tons. In 2005 the refinery decreased production to 1.06 mln ton, down roughly 51.5% from 2.18 mln ton in 2004. Concorde Capital: This plan looks quite realistic, provided ownership issues will not affect the company’s performance this year. We expect Halychyna to have enough crude oil at affordable prices to increase output. The refinery’s crude needs may be partially covered by Ukrnafta (UNAF: BUY), in which Privat owns a 42% stake, the balance being covered with Russian crude. The company’s strategic alliance with Alpha-Nafta, which trades oil and oil products, may contribute help it get stable supplies of Russian oil.