OMV Romania Mineraloel, a company taken over last year by Petrom, which manages petrol station networks under the OMV brand in Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria, intends to have 300 petrol stations operating in the region, 103 more than it currently holds.
The investments will be made by Petrom, the largest Romanian company, and could amount to over 200 million euros, given that the investment in one station could be as much as 2 million euros. Petrom took over 178 OMV petrol stations throughout Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania in January 2006, in a transaction worth 234 million euros.
"By 2010, the OMV network will include 300 stations in Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. At present, the network consists of 80 stations in Bulgaria, 44 in Serbia and 74 in Romania. By the end of the year, we will open another 5 stations in Bulgaria, and 13 in Serbia, with the investment in each new petrol station standing around 1.5 - 2 million euros. In Romania, the network will not see any expansions during this period, because the service sector will be the main target for development," said Vlad Seitan, retail manager for Romania, and marketing manager for Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia at OMV Romania Mineraloel.
The expansion onto the Bulgarian and Serbian markets will be conducted using the OMV brand, although the networks in these countries are under Petrom management. The reason for this decision is that most of the customers in these countries are already familiar with the OMV brand.
"Petrom's takeover of the OMV network in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia places the two partners in a win-win situation. Firstly, previous knowledge and experience can be transferred to Petrom, and secondly, Petrom can fulfill its objective of becoming a regional hub," explained Seitan.
On the Romanian market, the next potential service to be implemented in the OMV petrol station network will be the payment of utility bills. "Alongside this service, we will try to introduce services that will enable customers to pay their phone bills, cable fees, buy air and land travel tickets and also tickets to various events," added Seitan.
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