Rompetrol Gas, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) branch of the petroleum group Rompetrol, estimates the turnover will rise by 10% this year compared with 2006 when it derived turnover worth 39 million dollars (31.2 million euros), according to Veron Toma, the companyes general manager.
"The company intends to increase its market share by 2% this year, from 8% to 10%. This estimate takes into account the completion of the work on the two LPG terminals from Arad and Bacau, which entailed an investment worth 20 million dollars (16 million euros)," the representative of Rompetrol Gas added.
The LPG branch of Rompetrol group was set up at the end of last July and is based on the business with LPG, spun off from Rompetrol Logistics.
This decision was made amid the upturn witnessed by the LPG market, especially by the auto-gas segment, given the increasingly more cars that use this type of fuel.
The LPG market amounted to 320 million euros last year, compared with the value of 125 million euros registered in 2002, according to the latest estimates made by the Rompetrol representative.
The LPG market is composed of three segments, namely the auto-gas, the small bulk system and gas cylinders. The first segment is witnessing the highest rises, the small bulk system is a stagnating market, while the gas cylinder market is witnessing a downturn because of the connections to natural gas networks.
The companyes representatives would not comment on the information according to which Rompetrol Gas is interested in taking over the Crimbo Gas 2000 company, run by Cristian Borcea, one of the shareholders of the football club Dinamo Bucharest.
The LPG market is dominated by Petrom, the largest domestic company included in the portfolio of the Austrian petroleum group OMV, and by the local branch of the English-Dutch petroleum giant Shell, Shell
