Reinhard Pichler, 49, has been Petrom's chief financial officersince 2004, when Romania's biggest company was privatised. Lastyear, although the business of the petroleum and gas producer felland sales contracted, Petrom recorded a 34% increase in its netprofit against 2008, almost 40% of which was generated by hedgingoperations, i.e. covering the risk of exposure to the volatility ofthe oil barrel price.
The idea to use these instruments was Pichler's, theimplementation took around six months and involved a handful ofpeople. The CFO of Petrom admits that, had his bet not worked, hewould have been the first to leave the company.
"I have many friends in the United States who had told me in2008 that the real estate bubble would burst soon. Nobody knew atthat time how big the impact would be, but we knew this wouldhappen (...)," Pichler explains.
After the oil barrel went from a record high of 147 dollars inJuly 2008 to less than 40 dollars towards the end of the year,Petrom decided to hedge half of the 2009 production against theprice of oil. Later the decision was extended for this year, aswell.
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