Albania favours U.S. bid for refiner: Petrofac

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - UK-based oil services company Petrofac (PFC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday Albania was moving ahead with a bid from a U.S. group for a majority stake in the state-owned ARMO refiner, after Petrofac lodged a much lower bid.

"There was an American outfit who saw a lot more value than we did, so they proceeded with them," Chief Financial Officer Keith Roberts said.

Petrofac Chief Executive Ayman Asfari said his company had wanted to buy and upgrade the refinery.

Deputy energy minister Neritan Alibali said last month that Petrofac had offered 30 million euros ($47.29 million) for the stake, that Refinery Associates of Texas had offered 129 million euros, Czech-based Penta Investments offered 10 million euros and oil trader Vitol 100 million euros.

Roberts could not confirm whether the bidder which has moved forward was Refinery Associates and added the sale process, which followed an earlier unsuccessful attempt to sell control of the refinery, had some way to go.

ARMO has one refinery at Ballsh, a smaller one at Fier and a small network of fuel stations.