Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan. 27 / Trend A.Maratov /
The Kazakh National Company KazMunaiGaz's (KMG) subsidiary in Romania - Rompetrol - is the second largest oil market in Romania, Rompetrol CEO Saduokhas Meralyiev said.
"Today, Rompetrol is the second largest company in the retail oil products market in Romania after the state company Petrom, which, in turn, holds about 45 percent of the country's market," Meralyiev said.
He said the Romanian state-owned company Pertom has a unique advantage over Rompetrol that it has its own oil production in the country.
"But, we get raw materials for refining at the Kazakh -owned refinery Petromidia," he said.
Last year, the volume of Rompetrol's processing was 3.5 million tons of oil.
Meralyiev said despite the financial crisis in the EU countries in recent years, Rompetrol was able to hold the petroleum products sales market.
"Although the consumption of petroleum products in Romania in 2010 fell by 10 percent, Rompetol's sales increased by two percent than in 2009," Meralyiev said.
He said Rompetrol is implementing a program to expand the network of service stations under its own brand throughout Romania. In general, their number grew from 750 to 1,000 across Europe.
The Rompetrol Group NV is a 100-percent subsidiary of KMG Processing and Marketing.
Rompetrol is a large holding company. Most of its operations and assets are located in France, Romania, Spain, and southeastern Europe. The group is active primarily in refining and marketing downstream, with additional operations in exploration, production and other services for the oil industry. It owns two oil refineries (Petromidia and Vega), and some 630 gas stations in Europe (Romania, France, Spain, Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Albania, and Georgia).
The company owns a 25 percent share of the petroleum product retail sales market in Romania, a 3.5 percent share of the market in France, and a 1.5-percent stake of the market in Spain. Rompetrol works in 13 countries in service and trading.