Czech Industry Ministry to Keep Control of Oil Pipelines

The Czech government will keep control of oil and oil product pipelines and will not consider allowing Poland's PKN Orlen to take ownership stakes in them, the Industry and Trade Ministry said on Monday after a meeting of government and company officials.

The ministry said in a statement the two sides agreed to set up a working group to consider options for the future development of Czech oil refineries.

"The option of PKN Orlen's entry into Czech crude oil and crude products pipelines is not in play," Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek said in the statement.

PKN owns a majority stake in oil and chemicals firm Unipetrol, which holds a majority in the oil refining firm Ceska Rafinerska.

Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis told Reuters in April that PKN Orlen had proposed combining those assets with the state's pipeline firms.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Jason Hovet)