Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan. 27 / Trend K.Konyrova /
The Petromidia Refinery in Romania, a part of KazMunaiGaz's (KMG) subsidiary in Romania Rompetrol, will be able to process 100-percent sour Kazakh oil after modernization, Rompetrol CEO Saduokhas Meralyiev said.
"In late 2011-early 2012, we will complete the full modernization of the refinery. The goal is to create a flexible technology that will be able to process 100-percent Kazakh oil, which is known to be sour," Meralyiev said.
He stressed that after the modernization of oil refineries in Romania, the design capacity of the plant will grow from 4 million to 5 million tons of oil annually.
In addition, the refinery will fully produce Euro-5 standard and Euro-6 standard gasoline production in 2014.
"In early 2012, we will launch our latest modernization project, and are studying two projects due to the fact that Europe will reduce its consumption of gasoline and diesel," he added.
He underscored that the company has seven oil storage facilities in Romania.
"We have our own gas stations and we are setting the goal of strengthening petroleum product sales in general," Meralyiev said.
Rompetrol sells over 1 million tons of petroleum products in the domestic Romanian market, and intends to increase this figure to 1 million 800 tons.
According to him, Rompetrol plans to expand its presence in neighboring Bulgaria, Georgia, where it has subsidiaries.
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.