Russian oil group LukOil, whose annual revenues amount to $15bn, plans to discuss the take-over of some of Petrom's assets with the officials of the Austrian OMV Group, according to Vagit Alekperov, the chairman of the Russian company.
The Russians have openly expressed plans to add another 100-150 filling stations to those they already have on the Romanian market. Furthermore, a petrochemical complex comprising Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea and Arpechim Pitesti looks appealing to LukOil, since such facilities can be integrated with its Ukraine-based facilities. Everything depends upon the cost of the project, as pointed out by the LukOil chairman. The Arpechim Refinery is part of Petrom.
When asked by Ziarul Financiar about plans to approach OMV with regard to acquiring Arpechim Pitesti and some of Petrom's filling stations, Vagit Alekperov replied, "We plan to enter into discussions with the company that wins the tender for Petrom."
The Russian group is therefore sticking to its plans to negotiate a possible takeover of Petrom assets, despite the fact that the Romanian authorities announced that Romania's largest oil company would remain in one piece until 2009.
LukOil, which already owns a network of 220 filling stations, needs a further 100-150 on the Romanian market, Alekperov stated.
The expansion plan for this market will entail both the construction of new stations and the acquisition of existing ones, with the Russian group also having expressed an interest in buying from other market players.
Vagit Alekperov is in Bucharest for the meeting of LukOil's Board of Directors, attended by executives from the group's branches in Romania and throughout the region.
"The Board meeting held in Bucharest reveals the special interest LukOil has in the businesses in Romania," he said.
LukOil will reopen the Petrotel Refinery in Ploiesti in September this year, after having run a retooling programme in view of producing Euro compliant fuels.
"All in all, equipment acquisitions included, LukOil has spent more than $250 million on Petrotel so far. The refining capacity will be somewhere in the region of 2.5 million tonnes of crude a year," the LukOil chairman specified.
When it stopped operating, Petrotel's refining capacity was 3.5 million tonnes a year.
The LukOil refinery set to serve the domestic market and those in the Republic of Moldova and Eastern Hungary will place the Russian group in the third position in Romania, after Petrom (to be acquired by OMV) and Rompetrol.
The Russian group came to Romania in 1998, when it bought the controlling interests in the Petrotel Refinery. Since that date, it has invested more than $335 million. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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