President of Russian oil giant Lukoil Vagit Alekperov has expressed his company's interest in partnership with Slovenian companies as he met Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa in Ljubljana on Thursday.
Alekperov said Lukoil was interested in strategic cooperation with Slovenia, especially with refinery Nafta Lendava, port operator Luka Koper and petrol retailer Petrol.
Jansa is said to have said that he backs cooperation, but added that the decisions are in the hands of the corporations concerned.
Alekperov had met Economics Minister Andrej Vizjak earlier in the day for talks on the same topic. At that meeting Lukoil expressed considerable interest in investing in the Nafta Lendava oil company, according to Vizjak.
Vizjak added that the sale of the entire Nafta group would allow the continued development of the company, as well as the creation of new jobs and promising development programmes.
The government wants to sell Nafta Lendava and sees Lukoil's initiative as one of the possible ways to privatise it, Vizjak explained.
Jansa and Alekperov also discussed challenges facing Europe and the world in the energy sector.
The prime minister's office said that energy will likely be one of the priorities of Slovenia's stint as EU president in the first half of 2008.
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