The biggest company in Romania posted a 2.5 times higher net profit in the second year of recession than in 2009, thanks to fuel becoming more expensive, although fuel demand fell 5%.

OMV Petrom (SNP), the only local producer of oil and gas controlled by Austrian petroleum group OMV, reported 18.6 billion lei (4.4 billion euros) in sales last year, up 16% against 2009, with the biggest leap being recorded by the company's net profit, which reached around 2.2 billion lei (521 million euros), 163% more than in the previous year.

Petrom results come at a time when Romania has ended its second consecutive year of recession. Moreover, domestic demand of fuel slipped 5% amid the decline in purchasing power because of the salary cuts and the redundancies, with the company's hydrocarbon production falling 2%.

However, the difference was made by the fact that fuel became more expensive amid an increase in international prices and amid the company's cost-cutting measures, the most important of which was the closure of the Arpechim refinery.

Petrom says the price of petrol went up 20% last year, while that of diesel oil surged 24%.

"The company's results had to do with two main elements. Firstly they were linked to the fundamental data of the market, a higher oil price and secondly with the company's ability to respond to the highest level of challenges. This year we can say we have capitalised on five years of modernising. The fact that we responded to the crisis by taking tough measures has brought about these good results," said Mariana Gheorghe, the company's CEO.

Despite the wave of protests that the company's pump price policy caused, Mariana Gheorghe added that prices would continue to rise, especially as a result of the increase in the price of the oil barrel in the wake of conflicts in northern Africa.

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