Business | Central European oil companies

All for one, and one for all?

Joining forces, perhaps, to fight off the oil majors

|warsaw

THERE is a touch of “The Three Musketeers” about the looming consolidation of Central Europe's oil industry. Thrust together by a common desire to repel unfriendly advances, yet consumed by national pride, the three main regional companies—Poland's PKN Orlen, Hungary's MOL and Austria's OMV (the main Czech oil firm, Unipetrol, is far smaller)—see their future as one. But they are loth to admit it. Integration will happen, they say; only expect plenty of jostling first.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “All for one, and one for all?”

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