Will Ryszard Krauze become the oil Sheik of Poland?

Ryszard Krauze, one of the richest Poles, has bought access to vast oil fields in Kazakhstan. He is going to invest USD 800 million.

The idea originated by accident. One of Krauze's companies, Bioton, was looking for markets to sell insulin. Bioton's partner in Kazakhstan mentioned that they possessed oil fields and offered co-operation. The investment is being realized through another of Krauze's company, Petrolinvest, and could meet all of Poland's demand oil for the next 13 years. According to Krauze, the capacity of the oil field he bought is 2 billion barrels. Krauze is going to finance the project from his own property (estimated at zl.4 billion), the sales of Bioton shares, bank loans and launch Petrolinvest on the stock exchange in about six months time. Apart form Bioton, Krauze also owns Polnord (a building company) and Prokom Software, a leading IT company.(Gazeta Wyborcza, August 12-13, pp.1, 26)

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