Coal Miner: Smaller Than Expected Loss in '16
Poland's biggest coal producer, state-run PGG, made a smaller than expected net loss of around 300 million zlotys ($73 million) in 2016, deputy energy minister Grzegorz Tobiszowski said on Monday.
* "We initially estimate that the loss stood at around 300 million zlotys compared to the planned 370 million," Tobiszowski, who supervises coal mines restructuring, told reporters.
* Poland announced a restructuring plan for the troubled PGG, previously known as Kompania Weglowa, in April last year. As part of the project, state-run and listed utilities Energa , PGE and PGNiG agreed to invest 500 million zlotys each in PGG.
* Now the government wants PGG to help it rescue another troubled miner, state-controlled KHW. The plan assumes that PGG will take over KHW's mines by the end of the first quarter.
* Tobiszowski said delegates from the energy ministry will present details of the planned merger to the European Commission on Jan. 23.
(Reporting by Wojciech Zurawski; Writing by Agnieszka Barteczko)
