Petrom, the biggest Romanian company, controlled by OMV Austria, has earmarked 200 million euros for investments in the modernisation of Arpechim Pitesti petrochemical and refining platform over the next five years.
In parallel, the company plans to invest one billion euros in Petrobrazi Ploiesti refinery.
"We are going to invest 200 million euros by 2011 to boost the efficiency of the refinery. Arpechim is part of our strategy related to the refining segment. Giving this refinery up is out of the question, instead, we are going to invest in it so as to bring it up to the profitability standards we want," says Jeffrey Rinker, a member of the executive board, in charge with the refining activity and petrochemical products with Petrom.
As for the strategies implemented at the two refineries that entered OMV's portfolio once Petrom was taken over, Rinker says they are completely different.
"In the case of Petrobrazi, we want to boost the production capacity, to expand the refinery. Hence the much bigger amounts of money allocated. As far as the petrochemical segment of Arpechim is concerned, we want to bring it to a level from which it can sustain its own profitability, not through subsidies, and this involves shedding some unproductive activities," Petrom representative adds.
"The idea for both refineries is to have them focus on the core business, namely converting Romanian crude oil into fuel," stated Rinker.
By 2011, Petrobrazi will produce 2.1 million tonnes of diesel oil, compared with the current 700,000 tonnes.
The refinery's production capacity will increase from 4.5 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes.
The decision to invest 1 billion euros in Petrobrazi, particularly in diesel oil production, was triggered by the rising consumption of diesel oil internationally.
Before joining Petrom board early this year,
