Kazakhstan, Astana, Feb. 7 / Trend A.Maratov /
Rompetrol is negotiating the repayment of a former company co-owner's debts, Rompetrol Group Vice Pesident Dmitry Grigoryev said in an interview with Trend.
"At present, the negotiations are held at the level of the Romanian Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as at the highest level," he said.
He said that the lack of coordination between the leaderships of Rompetrol and the Romanian government has arisen with respect to the cost of Petromidia Refinery's shares, which is a part of the oil concern.
Some foreign media reported last autumn that the Romanian government has plans to nationalize or deprivatize the oil concern Rompetrol. Kazakhstan has owned it since 2003.
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.
KazMunaiGaz paid $1.75 billion for Rompetrol. Moreover, the Kazakh side invested in modernizing the acquired assets in Romania, particularly in Petromidia Refinery, for 7 years.
"The rumors about the nationalization or deprivatization of our assets by the Romanian government are greatly exaggerated. Moreover, they do not correspond to reality," he said.
He clarified that first it deals with a certain package of shares of its main asset - the Petromidia oil refinery, rather than the whole Rompetrol oil concern.
He said that the former owners of the company owed a large debt to the Romanian government in the form of taxes and interest, totaling 570 million euros.
Becoming the new owner of the concern, the Kazakh company assumed its debts together with the assets. Until the fall of 2010, they duly paid them off within these 7 years. The remainder of the debt was converted into shares of Petromidia Refinery. It is a 44-percent stak that the Romanian government decided to sell to the Kazakh company at a cost that is much higher than their market price.
"This was the cause of debate between us, perhaps inaccurate information in the media," he said.
He said that at present, the leadership of Rompetrol is negotiating with the Romanian government to resolve the present financial situation.
At the end of last year, the issue was discussed at the highest level - during the OSCE summit in Astana at a meeting of the leaders of Kazakhstan and Romania. The presidents of the two countries have the basic understanding in resolving this issue.
"The decision will be officially announced within two-three months," he said.